Raikkonen’s managers in Abu Dhabi with Williams

Kimi Raikkonen has taken yet another step towards signing with the Williams team for 2012.
At the end of an intense weekend of speculation regarding the 2007 world champion’s possible return to formula one, Finn Raikkonen’s managers duly appeared in the Abu Dhabi paddock.

The appearance of managers Steve and David Robertson was all the more notable given Raikkonen’s participation thousands of miles away in the Welsh rally.

And Turun Sanomat newspaper reports that they watched the grand prix from within Williams’ hospitality area.

The signs are growing stronger every day that 32-year-old Raikkonen is definitely motivated to return to the sport that gave him 18 wins between 2001 and 2009.

Sir Frank Williams finally confirmed to the Finnish broadcaster MTV3 on Sunday that his Oxfordshire based team “has strong interest” in housing Raikkonen next year.

“Obviously, anyone worth his salt in any business will argue about the price of things,” he grinned, “so there is an argument going on, which of course is quite normal.

“I must choose my words carefully by saying only that it (Raikkonen coming to Williams) is possible.”

And team co-founder Patrick Head confirmed in Abu Dhabi that Williams’ interest in the former McLaren and Ferrari driver is not new.

“We were interested in Kimi when he drove for Sauber,” the Briton is quoted as saying. “We proposed to our then partner BMW to make him an offer but they thought it was too much money.”

0 comments

Other articlesgo to homepage

	Police detonate suspected bomb in F1 paddock(0) Monaco’s party atmosphere late on Thursday was broken by the sound of an explosion. Bomb police cordoned off an area of the formula one paddock near the media centre after someone noticed a suspicious plastic package. Experts detonated it with a controlled explosion just before 10pm, the Press Associated reported. It also emerges that some

	Schumacher must convince Mercedes to ‘want him’(0) If Michael Schumacher wants to keep racing beyond 2012, he will need to convince Mercedes. That is the claim of former German F1 driver Christian Danner, referring to rumours the seven time world champion’s future beyond this year is uncertain. Schumacher, 43, has said he is yet to sit down for talks with Mercedes, who

	Button says Lotus car to beat in Monaco(0) McLaren’s Jenson Button has named Lotus as the team to beat in Monaco. After Romain Grosjean was second fastest in both practice sessions on Thursday, Button’s teammate Lewis Hamilton concurred that the “Lotus looks pretty good”. “Normally, there are seven tenths between the two tyre compounds,” said the 2008 world champion. “Jenson was only four

	Raikkonen wears James Hunt helmet in Monaco(0) Kimi Raikkonen is paying tribute to one of his heroes this weekend at Monaco. During Thursday practice for this weekend’s blue-riband event, onlookers were surprised to see the late James Hunt apparently at the wheel of a 2012 black and gold Lotus. In fact, it was Finn Raikkonen wearing 1976 world champion Hunt’s iconic black

	McLaren set to offer Hamilton $150m(0) McLaren is offering Lewis Hamilton a lucrative new contract for 2013 and beyond, British newspapers are reporting from Monaco. The stories – in all the major dailies including the Guardian, the Telegraph, the Daily Mail, Express, the Star, the Sun, the Mirror and the Times – consistently contradicted an earlier rumour that Hamilton might need