Kimi Raikkonen has revealed he would like to contest August’s rally of Finland.

F1′s 2007 world champion returned from world rallying to grand prix racing this year.

“Of course I wanted to do better. But I’m not finished. I want to go back, whether for my career or after I don’t know,” the 32-year-old told Motorsport News, according to the official WRC website.

Earlier, Raikkonen admitted he had sidelined his rallying career for now in order to concentrate on F1. Before the 2011 season, Lotus’ (then Renault) regular driver Robert Kubica was seriously injured in a rally crash, and is still yet to return to the sport.

“I’d like to do rally Finland this season as it fits with the calendar but you’ll have to ask the team if it fits in my contract,” Raikkonen said.

Kimi Raikkonen has a simple theory as to why his return to formula one was much smoother than fellow former champion Michael Schumacher’s.

After two less competitive seasons in 2010 and 2011, seven time title winner Schumacher, 43, is finally back up to speed this year.

Finn Raikkonen is more than a decade younger than his German rival and he was off the grid for only two years, not three.

But he thinks there is a simpler explanation as to why he has returned immediately to the pace, while Schumacher took more than two full seasons.

“It’s just about whether you have a good car or not. It has made life much easier for me,” said Raikkonen, who has returned with Lotus.

“He (Schumacher) was not so lucky,” the former McLaren and Ferrari driver told Germany’s Sport Bild.

“The (Lotus) car is good,” the 2007 world champion added, referring to his black and gold E20. “Whether it’s good enough for victory or not, I don’t know.

“At least we are not far away from the top.”

Raikkonen insists not much has changed in F1 since he left for a world rallying foray at the end of 2009 — not even his friendship with Sebastian Vettel.

“He has won two titles since then but it didn’t change him,” said Raikkonen.

“Sebastian is a great racing driver but he’s also a really nice guy,” he added.

As for himself, Raikkonen insists he is just the same.

“Maybe people see me as more relaxed, which I think is down to the (Lotus) team,” he said.

“It’s a different atmosphere to what I’ve experienced before.”

Kimi Raikkonen has argued he is back in the mood for F1 by revealing he would have kept racing in 2010.
“I was never planning to leave the sport in the first place,” the 2007 world champion told the Times of India. “I had a contract for 2010 anyway.”

Indeed, at the end of 2009, Ferrari bought out the Finn’s deal so that Fernando Alonso could arrive early with the backing of the Spanish bank Santander.

Raikkonen headed off for two years of world rallying but is back with Lotus in 2012, fending off all the old questions about his motivation.

“Since I started in F1, I have always preferred the time we spend in the car from anything else happening in the paddock. It’s still the same,” the 32-year-old insists.

Even now, he would prefer to split his F1 racing with more rallying, but has agreed to abide his team’s wishes that he stay off the gravel.

“Ah, it’s normal with formula one they try to ban everything,” he told London’s Telegraph. “Unfortunately with what happened to Robert (Kubica) last year … but even before that it was written into contracts.

“Maybe in the future if you can do some good results you can get a release or something. I still love it,” said Raikkonen.

“If I could do it this year at the same time as formula one I would. I think it’s good practice and it’s good fun.”

 Lotus team owner Gerard Lopez has hit back at suggestions Kimi Raikkonen’s public image is an accurate reflection of the true 2007 world champion.
While the winner of 18 grands prix with Ferrari and McLaren is undoubtedly among F1′s most naturally gifted drivers ever, he also has a reputation for being lazy, unmotivated and uncooperative with the media and sponsors.

But after signing the 32-year-old Finn – who is nicknamed the ‘iceman’ – for his return to F1 in 2012 after two years in world rallying, Lotus insists it is more happy with Raikkonen so far.

“We feel very good with him and he clearly feels at home,” team owner Lopez is quoted by the Sun.

“He smiles a lot when he’s with us. But most importantly he says he feels like part of the family.

“I think Kimi has a public image that honestly from what we’ve seen does not translate into how he really is.

“He’s a very hard worker, very good at providing feedback and has a good team spirit.”

Lopez hinted, however, that he and team boss Eric Boullier did have some doubts about Raikkonen when they were considering their 2012 lineup.

But “Once we talked to him, once we understood why he was coming back to F1, we really felt comfortable,” he insisted.

“If you look at what happened at the (Jerez) test nobody can say he’s not on the pace.”

 Romain Grosjean says he understands the initial preference in 2012 given to his famous Lotus teammate, Kimi Raikkonen.
Frenchman Grosjean, with just 7 grands prix under his belt in 2009, is paired this year with Raikkonen, who has spent the last two seasons in world rallying.

Although they have both been away from the F1 grid for the past two seasons, it is Raikkonen who was granted an exclusive re-acclimatisation test recently, and the first two days of official testing this week at Jerez.

Grosjean, 25, insists to Le Matin newspaper: “It’s going well between us.

“It does not shock me that he began the testing for marketing reasons. He was world champion and he will also need some time to adjust to being back in the game.

“Together with Kimi, we want to do everything so that Lotus is in the best possible position on the grid and I do not intend to fuss over topics that I cannot control,” he added.

A hot topic in India this weekend is the rumoured return to formula one next year of 2007 world champion Kimi Raikkonen.
Reports suggest the 32-year-old Finn, who left Ferrari to try his hand at world rallying and NASCAR two seasons ago, could come back in 2012 with the beleaguered Williams team.

The famous British squad’s chairman Adam Parr was asked directly about the speculation in India on Friday by Finnish journalist Heikki Kulta.

“I am afraid there is only one answer to that question, which is that our race drivers are Pastor Maldonado and Rubens Barrichello and if, and when, that changes we will make an appropriate announcement,” he answered.

Parr was later asked a nearly identical question in the Buddh paddock by MTV3, Finland’s television broadcaster.

“Kimi has been one of the most competent drivers in the last few years,” acknowledged Parr, “and I think everyone would like to see him back in F1.”

The Former McLaren driver is notoriously unforthcoming with the media, but German-language reports this week have quoted Raikkonen as responding to a question about a hypothetical return to F1.

“Of course you always want a winning car,” he said, “but as we have seen this year, there is only one team that really has that.”

Kimi Raikkonen has admitted the possibility of returning one day to formula one.
After walking away from the sport at the end of 2009, the talented Finn and former title winner switched to world rallying and on Friday finished 15th on his debut in the low-tier pickup truck NASCAR series.

Asked in Charlotte about his controversial decision to quit formula one as one of its highest rated and paid drivers, he is quoted as responding by Turun Sanomat newspaper: “There were many reasons.

“But I haven’t said it is final. Currently I don’t miss F1. I wanted to do different things and now have had a great opportunity to try NASCAR.

“I haven’t said I will never go back to F1,” added the 31-year-old. “At the moment I have no plans for what I am going to do next year.”

Bidding to form a team in 2011 was too great a risk for  Prodrive, the famous motor racing brand’s boss David Richards has admitted.

The Briton and Aston Martin chief had attempted to form a team in previous years, but said in April that Prodrive will instead concentrate on world rallying and sports car racing.

On Sunday, he is quoted as saying the decision was driven by his concern for his 579 staff.

“I wasn’t prepared to risk everyone’s livelihoods,” he told the Independent, adding: “It was quite interesting to watch the reaction of everybody when I told them.

“The biggest fear people at Prodrive had is that we were going to risk everything on one throw of the dice by entering F1.”

Now, Prodrive is expected to team up for a world rallying bid in 2011 with formula one refugee Toyota.

“We want to be prepared if and when we get a call from Japan to go and compete,” a spokesman for Cologne based Toyota Motorsport confirmed.

(GMM)

Jun.17 (GMM)  Gerhard Berger has dismissed claims that Pirelli is a questionable choice as formula one’s new tyre supplier.

Although the news is not yet official, it is now expected that the Italian company will succeed the departing Bridgestone — with confirmation coming possibly at next week’s meeting of the World Motor Sport Council.

The other serious contender has been Michelin, Bridgestone’s most recent tyre competitor between 2001 and 2006 with 43 grand prix wins in this period, and utterly dominant in 2005.

The fact that Pirelli’s proposal is the one that has gained the majority of support has therefore been surprising to some; not only because it has absent from F1 since 1991, but also because the development time for 2011 is now so short.

Moreover, there has been some criticism in the past during Pirelli’s forays in world superbike racing as well as world rallying.  The Milan based brand is currently also the GP3 supplier and tipped for a deal with GP2 for 2011 and beyond.

“This (criticism) is absolute nonsense,” Berger, who won the 1986 Mexican grand prix with Pirelli tyres and Benetton in 1986, told Germany’s Auto Motor und Sport.

“Pirelli equips the fastest sports cars in the world.  There are also people in formula one who have been successful with Pirelli,” added the Austrian.

Pirelli’s last grand prix win was with Nelson Piquet and Benetton in Montreal in 1991.

On his visit to last weekend’s Canadian grand prix, director of motor sport Paul Hembery declined to comment.

Jun.7 (GMM)  Kimi Raikkonen has admitted a return to formula one is “possible”.

But in an interview with Austria’s Kleine Zeitung, the 2007 world champion also sounded more than happy with his new foray in world rallying, and not keen to immediately switch back to the grand prix grid.

During an event for his sponsor Red Bull, the 31-year-old Finn answered “Sure, anything is possible” when asked if he is open to launching a second F1 career.

But when asked if he still feels like ‘Raikkonen, the F1 driver’, he said: “The past is what it is — over.  I don’t miss it.”

And Raikkonen raved about his new job with Citroen.

“I love this job and the whole environment.  But I have much to learn and I want to be good at what I do.  With a relaxed setting you do not go far.”

Asked whether he would like to add a rally title to his F1 championship, Raikkonen admitted: “No one can see into the future, but yes, it is a dream.

“Now it is the time to learn; my formula one past does me no harm.”

He said rally is a more difficult discipline than F1.

“Because it’s constantly changing; the weather, the surface, the track.  You have to be flexible, adjusting and responding quickly.”

When asked which is more fun, he did not hesitate: “Rally!  Because there are always new challenges.”

Felipe Massa insists he is not being affected by the speculation predicting his Ferrari tenure will end this season.

The Brazilian’s contract runs out this year, and amid rumours that Robert Kubica could be set to replace him in 2011, 29-year-old Massa is currently struggling to match the pace of his new teammate Fernando Alonso.

“For sure I am happy to stay (at Ferrari) if they want me, I trust Ferrari and in the end I have no interest in what people are saying.

“What I care about is working hard and fixing things as quickly as possible,” Italian reports quote him as saying.

Corriere dello Sport suggested that Massa might be headed to Red Bull next year, to replace the possibly retiring Barcelona winner Mark Webber.

“In this world you hear so many things every week and every month,” said Massa, who became Michael Schumacher’s last Ferrari teammate in 2006.

The Massa/Red Bull rumour comes in the wake of Lewis Hamilton’s assertion two months ago that 33-year-old Webber might retire at the end of 2010.

It is further rumoured that while Kimi Raikkonen was earlier expected to return to F1 in Webber’s place next year, the 2007 world champion might in fact be content to prolong his new world rallying foray.

To Sydney’s Sun-Herald newspaper, Australian Webber has once again played down the Hamilton comments.

“They came about from when we were on a plane together back from the Japanese grand prix last year,” he revealed.

“We were talking about getting the timing right in terms of retirement, in sport in general.  When I do call it a day – and I really don’t think that it will be at the end of this year – I want to do so on a good note.

“But I’m driving well enough and I believe I can still bring a lot to the plate in the next year or so — meaning next year,” Webber insisted.  “I’ve got a few years in me yet.”

(GMM)

Apr.28 (GMM)  Kimi Raikkonen insists he still has not made a decision about returning to formula one in 2011.

After agreeing to end his Ferrari contract a year early late in 2009, the Finn signed on with Red Bull and Citroen and then endured a difficult and crash-laden start to his new career in the World Rally Championship.

But early this month in Jordan, 30-year-old Raikkonen became the first driver since Carlos Reutemann to score points in both F1 and world rallying.

And then shortly after declaring he is not missing formula one, he finished less than 7 minutes behind winner Sebastien Loeb in Turkey for fifth place.

But when asked if his recent results make it more likely he will stick with rallying in 2011, Raikkonen told Turun Sanomat newspaper: “It has not turned in any direction.

“There is no rush for me to make decisions.  We’ll have to see what are the possibilities and what for me is the most interesting — what I enjoy the most and what it is I most want to do,” he added.

“We will see at a point some time later this year,” said Raikkonen.

Famously not fond of F1′s off-track activities and pressures, and ruing the lost days of characters like James Hunt, Raikkonen’s observers agree that he seems happier in the rallying world.

“If the F1 world could go back 20 years, it would be the same as rallying now,” he said.  “It (rallying) is still professional but in just a bit more of a relaxed style.”