Kimi Raikkonen makes F1 return with Renault

[motorculture]

Kimi Raikkonen will return to Formula 1 next year after securing a two year deal to race with the Lotus-Renault squad.


The Finn, who secured his first and to date only world championship in the final round of 2007, left F1 when he was dropped by Ferrari at the end of his 2009 campaign.


He had also been in the frame for a drive at Williams, but when the deal fell through rumours of a Renault tie-up increased and it was confirmed on Tuesday that he will drive for the squad on a two-year deal.


The announcement brings to a close Raikkonen’s two year spell competing for Citroen in the WRC. His best finish came in the Rally of Turkey in 2010 when he came home fifth.Speaking about his return, Raikkonen said: "I'm delighted to be coming back to Formula 1 after a two-year break, and I'm grateful to Lotus Renault GP for offering me this opportunity.


“My time in the World Rally Championship has been a useful stage in my career as a driver, but I can't deny the fact that my hunger for F1 has recently become overwhelming.


"It was an easy choice to return with Lotus Renault GP as I have been impressed by the scope of the team's ambition. Now I'm looking forward to playing an important role in pushing the team to the very front of the grid."


Raikkonen’s F1 return could also have a significant impact in the Castrol EDGE Rankings – or at least to his own position in the classification.


In 2009 he was ranked fourth for much of the season, with only Lewis Hamilton, Felipe Massa and Sebastien Loeb ahead of him when the year began.


Ferrari’s struggles that season meant he slipped onto the fringes of the top ten as the season progressed, and by the time of his last grand prix lay 15th – this time Jenson Button and Sebastian Vettel topping the Rankings.


His WRC move, or specifically his struggles in the championship, brought about huge slides however, and towards the end of the 2010 season he had slipped out of the top 100.


He has continued to fall this year and currently sits 206th – a Ranking he can expect to rapidly improve upon come his first F1 race in more than two years, next year’s Australian Grand Prix.





The Rankings is based on drivers' measurable performance over the last 12 months, including everything from their grid position to fastest laps. For further information on how the Castrol Rankings scores are calculated,

[motorculture]

Analysing The Iceman and his F1 return


Kimi Raikkonen, 2007 F1 world champion, announced his comeback to the sport today after signing a two-year deal with the Lotus-Renault squad.


The question now is which side of Raikkonen emerges: the Flying Finn who claimed 18 victories and 62 podiums, or the seemingly disinterested figure he became in the latter stages.


The dichotomy between those two sides of Raikkonen made him one of the most enigmatic – and by extension popular – characters on the F1 grid: a maverick capable of exceptional performances but who perhaps relied too much on natural talent and lacked the intensity and attention to detail of a Michael Schumacher of Fernando Alonso.





So how might Kimi fare on his F1 comeback? Will the Iceman’s second coming prove a glorious return, or an ill-judged mistake by both the driver and his team?


While the definitive answer will be provided over the course of 2012, the Castrol EDGE Rankings are able to shed some light on a return that has left millions of F1 fans delighted.


The accusation most commonly levelled against Raikkonen is a lack of motivation, but he performed better in 2008 and 2009 – his final two years in F1 – than many people give him credit for.


In 2008 for example, when he was left trailing Felipe Massa in the drivers’ championship, he still scored ten fastest laps over the races – suggesting that car handling, rather than pace or enthusiasm, was his main cause for struggle.


In 2009 he took one victory and five podiums but finished a distant sixth in the championship, leading to a premature exit as Ferrari looked to Fernando Alonso to build their future around.


That season Raikkonen dropped from fourth to 15th in the Castrol EDGE Rankings, a slump that – on the surface at least – bears out the argument he had lost motivation and was on the wane.


In truth however the opposite is more apposite. In the first nine races of 2009 the Finn took just one podium, at Monaco, and averaged 684 points per race in the Rankings.


In the second half of the year his record improved markedly. His 18th grand prix win was delivered in style at Spa-Francorchamps; podiums came at Hungary, Valencia and Monza; and across the final eight races he averaged over 1,000 points per race, a distinct improvement.


Look across to his two seasons in the WRC, and a similar pattern emerges. While his decision to not compete in several rallies in 2011 again left him open to criticism, in the rallies he did compete in he averaged 466 points in the Rankings.


Compare that to 2010, and his average is lower – 393 per rally – despite scoring his best result in WRC in the rally of Turkey.


As was the case in his final F1 season then, the Rankings suggest that motivation – inside the cockpit at least – does not present as significant a problem as some suggest.


So what then can be expected of Raikkonen? Can he ever return to the highs of 2007, or will his comeback simply rank in the ‘solid if unspectacular’ column.


Again, the Rankings can shed some light. This year Vitaly Petrov, Renault’s de facto number one, finished 38th in the Rankings, and 11th of the F1 drivers.


One year prior and Robert Kubica sat 15th, the same position Raikkonen held when he left F1.


If Raikkonen is to once again rech that mark he will therefore have to replicate the sort of pace Kubica was able to achieve in 2010 - a speed which carried the Pole to a front-row start at Monaco, three podiums and one fastest lap at Canada.


Raikkonen must be giving time to settle in to his F1 comeback, especially as the landscape of the sport has changed vastly in the past two years. Using the data of the Castrol EDGE Rankings though, it seems the Finn could once again be flying up the order next year.





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