Kimi Raikkonen and Adrian Sutil visit Williams HQ

There has been lots of talk in recent days about a visit by Kimi Raikkonen to Williams F1 in Grove. There is no question that this took place, but it was not as recently as some stories seem to suggest, but rather in the gap between the Belgian and Italian Grands Prix. It is not credible that his visit to Williams was a private one. Williams is looking for drivers for next year and now is the right time for such discussions to be taking place. The fact that Raikkonen was not the only unusual face spotted at Grove underlines this. The other man to drop by was Adrian Sutil, the Force India driver.

There is no doubt that Williams is looking around to decide what to do. It could keep Rubens Barrichello, but the relationship has not been an easy one and it has not been successful on the track. Pastor Maldonado will stay, if only because he brings a large sum of cash with him from PDVSA. That deal may be somewhat dependent on the future of the country’s president Hugo Chaves, but it is solid – and Williams needs solid money for the future.

Sutil is quick, but he is not famous for his technical abilities (nor is Maldonado come to that), but he has the added bonus of coming with money from Medion computers. This was bought recently by the Chinese firm Lenovo, but the restructuring since then seems to suggest a bigger involvement in the sport, rather than a reduction. Lenovo recently took on Gianfranco Lanci, a former CEO of Acer, as a consultant to help develop its consumer PC business. Lanci is from Turin and rose through the ranks of Texas Instruments and was appointed MD of Acer Italy when TI and Acer did a deal in 1997. He became president of Acer Europe three years later and soon afterwards agreed a deal to name Prost Grand Prix’s Ferrari engines Acers. After Prost closed Acer became a Ferrari partner. Lanci moved up to run the entire business, but left the company recently. His focus will be Lenovo’s integration of Medion.

A motivated Kimi would be a powerful weapon for Williams, which has struggled in the doldrums this year and is last of the established F1 teams. But Kimi is not going to be bringing cash and so it would have to be seen as a risk to try to attract other sponsors. The team is in the process of rebuilding. It has hired a new technical team and while there is a certain amount of doubt about the appointment of Mike Coughlan as the man in charge, there is no doubt that Coughlan has designed some decent cars over the years. New aerodynamicist Jason Somerville is highly rated and Mark Gillan is a solid pair of hands when it comes to applying science to motor racing. The team has signed a deal with Renault and that means that next year Williams ought to be back in the hunt in the mid-grid and not in the current mess. What will turn the team back into a stronger force is good leadership. Success brings cash in F1 so the aim of the team should be to climb as high as possible in the Constructors’ Championship.

Kimi left F1 two years ago, wanting to do something else. He has done two seasons in the World Rally Championship and made a limited impression and then he popped up in NASCAR, although that seemed to be another false start. The signs are that he is thinking more about getting back into F1, if he can. He is only 31 but his lack of interest in his final year at Ferrari did not leave a good impression. It was felt that he had achieved his ambition and won a World Championship and did not seem particularly motivated to win another. Getting back into F1 was always going to be a challenge, as was seen when Renault F1 decided on Nick Heidfeld rather than Kimi. Whether Kimi is the right man to lead a Williams revival is an arguable point, but it might be a good move.

Source: http://joesaward.wordpress.com/2011/09/17/the-real-story-raikkonen-williams-and-sutil/

I know there's a considerable amount of Kimi Raikkonen 'haters' out there but in my opinion he was absolutely fantastic for f1 and was arguably at his peak the fastest man in f1. His aggressiveness, speed and god given talent for racing was evident throughout his time in f1 and is of similar mould to drivers such as Lewis Hamilton & Robert Kubica. These are the type of drivers that make formula 1, especially at the business end of the grid hugely exciting, however since Kimi's departure there have been considerable changes to f1, which in my opinion don't suit a driver with Kimi's attributes. Pure racers are being handcuffed and held back during this 'conservation of tyres' period of formula 1, so therefore I can't see Kimi ever coming back to formula 1.

Kimi is a racer and a champion and would only return to f1 for a top competitive team. Visiting an uncompetitive team in Williams is hardly something that will attract Kimi back to F1. I would only see Kimi returning to f1 for Red Bull in replacing the underperforming and in my opinion 'poor' Mark Webber. I do not understand why people continue to back Mark as he has been continually outperformed by SV and has contributed to making the season a 'boring championship'. His poor performances and failure to challenge SV is a disgrace in my opinion and therefore he should be replaced with a driver that will challenge SV on a regular basis and ultimately reveal to us how good SV truly is. The one problem with this is that red bull are winning and there 'favourite driver' is delivering the goods, so why would they want to rock the boat with a fast teammate who could disrupt the harmony of the group and ultimately beat SV. This has already been proved with Horner stating that Hamilton would not be a good fit at red bull because he is a driver who could beat SV and destroy SV's reputation and untouchable dominance.

a lot questions about kimi, does have the fire , motivation , patience to help develop williams back into a winning team. maybe sutil would be a better long term option albeit he may not have kimis talent. looking at the current crop of young drivers coming through perez , di resta might be better options for williams.

I really doubt either of Di Resta or Perez would go as its a step down in performance and certainly in Force India's case,budget as well. Kimi would bring alot of interest back to Williams but he wasn't particularily good in his last seasons with Ferrari and i see no reason after spending the last two years rallying that he would come back any better. Sutil could be an option as Hulkenburg will have his seat next season.

I think Williams are hoping that if they signed Kimi then sponsors would come running with their bucket of cash.


P.S john this is about Kimi + sutil not mark webber so please keep it that way

Interesting. Sutil can be quick when he's on his game and has produced some good results for Force India, but is inconsistent. Considering FI are in better shape than Williams at the moment I would doubt he'd seriously consider moving...unless Williams have some serious developments in the pipeline.

Kimi Raikonnen - the enigma. Undoubtedly quick and a great driver, but hardly known for his commitment in other areas...car development being one of them. The ice-cream man was famous for leaving the track as soon as he could after races and for plodding along in midfield if the car wasn't to his liking - only putting in a few quick laps at the end to remind everyone he was there.

Also the most miserable git I've ever seen in racing overalls - he has all the charisma of a haddock. Wonder if he's changed since?

Did he get dumped by his rally team?

dyrewolfe wrote:

Did he get dumped by his rally team?

his team were excluded from the WRC for not contesting an event