After a couple of years away from the series in a failed attempt at rally racing, Kimi Raikkonen, the 2007 world champion at Ferrari, will return to race in Formula One next season.
Lotus Renault announced Tuesday that Raikkonen would join the team on a two-year contract. Raikkonen has won 18 races. His name came up throughout the season in association with either Lotus Renault — which lost its lead driver Robert Kubica to injuries in a rally accident — or Williams.
“There were two options – it was this team or Williams,” said Raikkonen. “And everything worked out with Lotus Renault GP as we wanted, so that’s really the reason.”
Raikkonen, who appeared to lack motivation in his last two seasons with Ferrari, said he missed the racing.
“The main reason was that I never really lost the passion for racing in Formula One, just maybe for all the other things around it,” he said, referring to his notorious dislike of the constant barrage of media interviews and sponsorship commitments of a driver in Formula One. “But when I did some NASCAR races this year I noticed that I was increasingly missing the racing side – to race against each other – because in rallying you really race against the clock.”
My question is whether Raikkonen is the best choice for the Lotus Renault team as it tries to rebuild and find a team leader after losing Kubica. Rubens Barrichello, who proved at Williams this year that he is still fast, is known for his feedback and experience and input with the engineers — whereas Raikkonen is fairly withdrawn.