Kimi: Mercedes drive or sabbatical?

[blizzard]

Santander (sponsor) going to Ferrari
Ferrari celebration thing held in Spain this year
Renault is very bad this year
Kimi eyeing rally

all adding up...

Yes, but all parties are denying that Kimi will be replaced by Fernando, including Fernando and Ferrari.
If Fernando knows he will join them, why does he deny it? He could simply say " I don´t know" or "no comment" or something like that.
And Kimi and his manager insist on the 2010 contract, so who would pay Kimi´s wages'? It´s about 35 million $ from what I´ve heard.
I don´t think Ferrari can afford to simply pay that sum for Kimi to stay at home or drive rally.
And last but not least, it´s a big risk to fire Kimi in terms of image, what happens if they were going to sack Kimi and Massa has an awful 2010 ? Montezemolo and Domenicali would surely get an awful amount of stick for sacking "the wrong guy".

So theres is a few signs that Alonso Could be on his way, but also a lot that speaks against it.

[Ali]

Yes, but all parties are denying that Kimi will be replaced by Fernando, including Fernando and Ferrari.

And Kimi and his manager insist on the 2010 contract, so who would pay Kimi´s wages'? It´s about 35 million $ from what I´ve heard.
I don´t think Ferrari can afford to simply pay that sum for Kimi to stay at home or drive rally.

From JA:

What I will say is that back in 1995 there were many rumours that Michael Schumacher was going to be announced as a Ferrari driver. The Ferrari press office issued a press release on 20th June which said,

“Ferrari would like to express, for the umpteenth time and with maximum clarity that all stories relating to negotiations with the driver Michael Schumacher are totally false.”

A few weeks later FIAT patriarch Gianni Agnelli announced the signing of Schumacher and new era began.

and

Alonso's wage will supposedly paid by Santander so Ferrari can afford paying Kimi for 2010 season as it won't be a burden as things will stand.

[sejtur]

But now it is not only Ferrari saying that Kimi will stay, but also Kimi and his manager.

[sonofgabe]

He doesn't suck up to the media or play their game, which is cool. Definitely the Scandinavian way. It took years for everyone to figure out that Hakkinen was intellegent and had a great sense of humor. The British media in particular, always seem to be taking shots. He doesn't tell them anything, so they make up stuff. If he does leave Ferrari, I think he'll retire. But if he was in a competitive Brawn GP next year, that would be fantastic.

[sejtur]

I didn't know this, but it turns out he also has a Twitter.
This is what he posted last.

Rally is a hobby. I have a contract with SF until 2010.
12:13 AM Jul 15th from web

[phil1993]

Ronaldo had a contract with Man Utd until 2012 but he's not there now...contracts mean nothing really....when people bring up contracts it usually means that its gonna be broken

[blizzard]

Ronaldo had a contract with Man Utd until 2012 but he's not there now...contracts mean nothing really....when people bring up contracts it usually means that its gonna be broken

Yes, but United were fortunate enough to find someone like Florentino Perez, who was stupid enough to pay them 80 million pounds in compensation.

I doubt, that in the Ferrari - Kimi relationship somebody will turn up and pay Ferrari a transfer fee to get Kimi driving for his team.

Indeed it would be Ferrari who would turn out to be the big losers financially, if they were going to sack Kimi, because his wages for 2010 are fix and about 30-35 million dollars.

[phil1993]

Santander would pay Alonso's contract - problem solved

[blizzard]

Santander would pay Alonso's contract - problem solved

Yes, but on the other hand Ferrari could use the money from Santander for aero development. Now that the budget cap won´t come. So after making all the calculations, there is still a big amount of money, which could have been used in a better way than paying someone who is no longer a member of the team.

Why not sacking Massa and keeping Kimi?

Much less expensive and Kimi has more natural talent.

[Zack]

Santander would pay Alonso's contract - problem solved

Yes, but on the other hand Ferrari could use the money from Santander for aero development. Now that the budget cap won´t come. So after making all the calculations, there is still a big amount of money, which could have been used in a better way than paying someone who is no longer a member of the team.

Why not sacking Massa and keeping Kimi?

Much less expensive and Kimi has more natural talent.

Firstly,Kimi is more expensive than Massa. I don't know why you hate massa so much ....

[phil1993]

Massa is like wine - he gets better all the time IMO he is driving better than in 2008 and in 2007 he was in prime position to beat Kimi until bad luck robbed him of a Monza podium at a crucial time so the team put its efforts towards favouring Kimi when the championship was nearing an end. Kimi hasn't had a good race since Spain 2008 and he's getting worse really - mistakes etc. He was never the same when he left McLaren - he's kinda Jekyll and Hyde: One minute he's devoted to F1, saying he wants to be there, hates the people who say he wont be and that he loves F1 to bits; then he says that he wants do to WRC and seems not interested...

[AzShadow]

I didn't know this, but it turns out he also has a Twitter.
This is what he posted last.

Rally is a hobby. I have a contract with SF until 2010.
12:13 AM Jul 15th from web

It's a fake account.

Kimi hasn't had a good race since Spain 2008

You mean he has not won since Spain 2008. That's what people see when only statistics are remembered. You know he lost many winning chances that season due to events he didn't cause himself and he's had a few good races this season already too.

[sejtur]

Massa is like wine - he gets better all the time IMO he is driving better than in 2008 and in 2007 he was in prime position to beat Kimi until bad luck robbed him of a Monza podium at a crucial time so the team put its efforts towards favouring Kimi when the championship was nearing an end. Kimi hasn't had a good race since Spain 2008 and he's getting worse really - mistakes etc. He was never the same when he left McLaren - he's kinda Jekyll and Hyde: One minute he's devoted to F1, saying he wants to be there, hates the people who say he wont be and that he loves F1 to bits; then he says that he wants do to WRC and seems not interested...

Ugh... don't look at the statistics only. I'll look like you do at Kimi, at Hamilton. Hamilton lied at melbourne, and this season he's no good at all. It started off as a fairy tale with podiums and wins all over the place in 2007, but it's gotten only worse. And where was Jenson button in 2007 and 2008? Was he retired or something?

Also, Kimi never said that he lost interest in F1.
He wanted to do rally at McLaren too, but they didn't let him.
He hasn't got much car driving to do now anyways, because the in-season testing is forbidden, so he wants to have fun.

Please look at the video interview that I posted about Kimi, so that you'll understand him better.
And I know it's your opinion, but I just want to let you see another side of the story, rather than what some media are portraying him like.

AZShadow, how do you know that Kimi's twitter is false? It's been there since a half year, and he doesn't update very often. When he does, he sounds like kimi, only he says lol. How do you know it?

[blizzard]

Santander would pay Alonso's contract - problem solved

Yes, but on the other hand Ferrari could use the money from Santander for aero development. Now that the budget cap won´t come. So after making all the calculations, there is still a big amount of money, which could have been used in a better way than paying someone who is no longer a member of the team.

Why not sacking Massa and keeping Kimi?

Much less expensive and Kimi has more natural talent.

Firstly,Kimi is more expensive than Massa. I don't know why you hate massa so much ....

Come on mate, don´t exagerrate my post
I don´t hate Massa. And it´s right what phil said, Felipe is doing a good job this season so far.
It was only a suggestion, to regard the other side of the medal. People are only talking about Kimi getting sacked, but Massa earns much less, so his compensation would be much lower than Kimi´s. And Kimi has also won a championship and Massa not.

I think you mixed the part up with Massa and Kimi´s wages. I was talking about that sacking Kimi would be much more expensive than sacking Massa and you tell me that Kimi is more expensive...that´s exactly what I posted before

[phil1993]

I agree with the comparisons with Hamilton, but its Kimi's icy personality that leaves him vulnerable and he has stated that he's happy with what he's done in F1