World famous ice cream eater and unimpeded shitter Kimi Räikkönen will race for Ferrari next year. This would mark a huge turnaround for Kimi and for F1 as a whole.
The news comes from the BBC in this article that cites no official confirmation from Ferrari, Räikkönen, or Lotus.
Back in 2009, when Kimi last raced for Ferrari, it's rumored that the team was so disappointed with his performance that they offered him half of his next year's pay to leave a year before his contract was up. Kimi did indeed leave, and spent two years driving in the WRC with Red Bull (and a bit in NASCAR trucks) while Fernando Alonso scooped up his vacated F1 seat.
Rumors also went around that Kimi was bitterly unhappy with the Scuderia, though he denied those claims in a later interview with F1 journalist James Allen.
I always said that I didn’t have bad feelings against them,” he answered, “I had a good time with the team. I won my championship there but things probably could have gone a nicer way in the end.
While I'm amazed Kimi uttered multiple sentences to another human being, I'm even more amazed that Ferrari paid to bring him back to the team. Ferrari has traditionally been a team that has a clear #1 and #2 driver structure, like when Rubens Barichello would even give up a win to help Schumacher win a championship. You get the same thing today, with Felipe Massa helping draft Fernando Alonso through qualifying at Monza.
Stragely enough, Tifosi Axis of Oversteer points out that Ferrari's last big success, their 2007 driver's world championship as well as their 2007 and 2008 constructor's titles, came when there was no clear #1/#2 driver structure (in that case, it was Kimi and a then-competitive Massa). Maybe we could see a successful Kimi in red once again.
Massa, as it happens, announced his departure from Ferrari on Twitter and Instagram today. I guess this is the first time he's come first at Ferrari in a long time.
From 2014 i will no longer be driving for Ferrari. I would like to thank the team for all the victories and incredible moments experienced together. Thank you also to my wife and all of my family, to my fans and all my Sponsors. From each one of you I have always received a great support! Right now I want to push as hard as possible with Ferrari for the remaining 7 races. For next year, I want to find a team that can give me a competitive car to win many more races and challenge for the Championship which remains my greatest objective! Thank you all. Felipe
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