Raikkonen signs for Lotus

Kimi Raikkonen will be back in F1 next season with Team Lotus F1.

Will be great to see him back, shame its not in something a bit more competetive.

How do you think he will do?

damn it i wanted to post this haha.

Yeah just heard the same. Good to see him back, he could seriously help the renault team develop their car!

I think he'll be a mid feild runner for most of next season and until the car improves, which im sure Kimi is capable of contributing to and until i finds his feet he'll stay there.

Was about to post this as well. The renault car is obviously not at the level of the Red Bulls, Mclarens or Ferrari's but I feel it's a decent package. I guess this means Senna is out of a job. Poor kid, he looks the business

Having to get up early for my commute does have it's benefits. I was desperate to post the news first. Small victories and all that

Belgarion of Riva wrote:Was about to post this as well. The renault car is obviously not at the level of the Red Bulls, Mclarens or Ferrari's but I feel it's a decent package. I guess this means Senna is out of a job. Poor kid, he looks the business

+1

Belgarion of Riva wrote:Was about to post this as well. The renault car is obviously not at the level of the Red Bulls, Mclarens or Ferrari's but I feel it's a decent package. I guess this means Senna is out of a job. Poor kid, he looks the business

I wouldn't count on it afte vitaly's outburst the other week and lets face Bruno could easily get the same amount of sponsorship from Brazilian companies

Also this has come out today which is interesting after they ruled him out last week
http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/96579

eh! lol

Would certainly been the most boring but talented team in f1 history if robert teamed with Kimi lol

Heard it on the news this morning. That certainly came out of the blue!

Smart move by Renault IMO, though I'm a bit surprised Kimi would sign for a midfield team. They've guaranteed the services of a top driver for a couple of seasons, while they wait for their other star name to recover and decide his future. Meanwhile that leaves Petrov, Senna and a bunch of other potential candidates scrambling for the remaining seat.

Not sure how much Kimi will contribute on the development side, but I'm sure he'll get the most out of whatever they give him. Think they'll give Mercedes a run for their money next season.

Absolutely brilliant news. The grid has missed Kimi Raikkonen. The return of the lovable finn with his aggressive, pure racing ability and outright speed is just what F1 needs. I think it's incredibly early to suggest Renault are going to be a mid-table outfit in 2012 and I believe the team has a series of announcements pending on staff recruitment. Having a driver of Kimi's ability will no doubt be a huge incentive for the team to improve and develop a car that Kimi can showcase his undoubted speed with. However, I fear for Kimi because F1 has changed considerably since he left and he is a driver of the similar mould of Lewis Hamilton, a driver who has undoubted speed but is aggressive on his tyres and lacks the tyre management skills of a Jenson Button which are fundamental to any success.

One thing for sure is that Kimi is unpredictable and will bring much needed excitement to F1, I just hope that Kimi dedicates himself and fully commits to F1 with Renault and quickly adjusts to the new ways of the sport. Also apparently Petrov signed a two year deal last December until the end of 2012.

Loved Lewis and Kimi battling it out. Spa 2007 (or was it 8) was epic!

John wrote: However, I fear for Kimi because F1 has changed considerably since he left and he is a driver of the similar mould of Lewis Hamilton, a driver who has undoubted speed but is aggressive on his tyres and lacks the tyre management skills of a Jenson Button which are fundamental to any success.

Im guessing you didn't watch practice on friday they were testing the new pirelli options and you have to rag them to get the best from them conveniently Button struggled with them

I don't need a Christmas now! STOKED!
THE ICEMAN COMETH AGAIN!

fernando wrote:

John wrote: However, I fear for Kimi because F1 has changed considerably since he left and he is a driver of the similar mould of Lewis Hamilton, a driver who has undoubted speed but is aggressive on his tyres and lacks the tyre management skills of a Jenson Button which are fundamental to any success.

Im guessing you didn't watch practice on friday they were testing the new pirelli options and you have to rag them to get the best from them conveniently Button struggled with them

Really? haha... tables will turn. This should be very interesting. Thats lifted me a bit Fernando - thanks!

Lewis and Alonso will be back!

I never actually supported Kimi when he was driving, though didnt not support him (if that makes sense). But im chuffed he's coming back.

http://www.lotusrenaultgp.com/8044-Kimi-Raikkonen-Video-Announcement.html

Sounds like a hungry and committed Kimi!

Critical_mass wrote:

fernando wrote:

John wrote: However, I fear for Kimi because F1 has changed considerably since he left and he is a driver of the similar mould of Lewis Hamilton, a driver who has undoubted speed but is aggressive on his tyres and lacks the tyre management skills of a Jenson Button which are fundamental to any success.

Im guessing you didn't watch practice on friday they were testing the new pirelli options and you have to rag them to get the best from them conveniently Button struggled with them

Really? haha... tables will turn. This should be very interesting. Thats lifted me a bit Fernando - thanks!

Lewis and Alonso will be back!

Not quite as simple as that on the tyre front.

Remember how Button was magically transformed into a speed demon when he switched to the harder tyres later in the race, to hunt down and pass Alonso?

Pirelli have said they plan to be more "aggressive" with their tyre compounds next season. I think they're going to make a new softest compound, then "uprate" the others, so that soft becomes the new medium and medium becomes the new hard compound.

However a lot will also depend on how next year's cars run on the different compounds.

Pirelli went from one extreme to the other in terms of tyre management and it took time for the teams and particular drivers to gather the information and data required to get the best out of them. This was evident as the most exciting racing was seen in the first half of the season and then there was a gradual decline resulting in extrememly dull and boring races in the latter part of the year, which i must add was not helped by poorly placed and ineffectual DRS zones.

Pirelli have stated they will be more aggressive but in reality I don't think they will alter too much for next season as the general feedback on this season has been positive. All I know is Paul Hembery stated that next seasons option will be slightly more durable. The teams found the new option tyre in Abu Dhabi to be 0.1 seconds slower than the current tyre and next seasons tyre surface will be more tolerant to temperature extremes such as in Malaysia. My general impression is that the tyres next season will be only ever so slightly more durable but not to the huge amounts that people think. Tyre management is still going to be fundamental for any success next season and the teams understand the increased importance of how next years car runs and deals with the differing compounds. Ferrari I think have most to learn and surely the temperature related tyre issues they experienced during the early parts of stints is something they will need to rectify.

I still think Kimi will take time to adjust to the new ways of F1, however I was annoyed when I read that, 'Sebastian Vettel says it will be difficult for 2007 champion Kimi Raikkonen to return to Formula 1 at the same level he was at when he quit at the end of 2009'. I think comments like this are uneccessary and arrogant from Seb, especially as Kimi is a past world champion with truly remarkable and undoubted ability. It is very easy for Vettel to state something like this while sitting in a dominant car within F1 with an inferior teammate, when in reality if Kimi, Lewis or Fernando were at Red Bull, then young Seb would still be hunting a world championship in my opinion.

good to have the ICEMAN back

So happy that the Flying Finn is back. My favorite driver, hopefully Lotus make major strides over the off season and The Kimster is in the chase for the title in 2012!

TheBrahmaBull wrote:good to have the ICEMAN back

Lets hope it is the Iceman, rather than the Icecream man.

lol :-)