Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen, the 2007 Formula One world champion, said on Thursday he expects to retire when his contract runs out at the end of next year.
The fan favorite returned to Maranello this season on a two-year contract, but the Finn has struggled to match teammate Fernando Alonso in the eight races so far with only 19 points to the Spaniard’s 79 and a best finish of seventh.
“Until my contract is finished and then I will probably stop. That is what I think is going to happen,” the 34-year-old said when asked by reporters how long he expected to stay at Ferrari.
Photo: Reuters
Raikkonen took two years out of Formula One to compete without much success in the world rally championship, returning with Lotus in 2012.
“When I feel it’s time to finish Formula One, it’s time to finish that,” Raikkonen said.
“Even doing something else at the same time makes no difference because obviously the decision is about F1 and if it is the right time to stop,” he said.
The championship is approaching the halfway point, a stage where speculation about likely driver moves starts to pick up speed.
Raikkonen’s results have inevitably focused attention on the famously taciturn driver, while Alonso’s future at Ferrari has also been questioned after apparent overtures from his former McLaren boss Ron Dennis.
Jenson Button, the 2009 champion, is out of contract with McLaren at the end of the season — but has said he wants to stay — while Lotus driver Romain Grosjean is starting to feature in the rumor mill.
Meanwhile, Alonso warned Ferrari to expect a winless run of tough times and a fight to finish third in the constructors’ championship.
“If I’m honest with you, I’d say no, it’s not possible to win this year. It’s what I’m thinking inside, but in 2011, also, I thought it was not possible to win and we won at Silverstone, so anything can happen,” Alonso said.
“We will try to do the best we can and if one opportunity arrives we will take it. It’s extremely difficult with the performance we are showing,” he said.
Ferrari are third in the constructors’ race, but just 26 points ahead of McLaren, in sixth.
“We need to keep improving and try to get some margin on those other teams, especially for the constructors’ championship, because we have a threat of Williams, Force India, McLaren,” Alonso said.
“Red Bull is a bit ahead of us at the moment. There are some interesting things that could happen in the constructors’ championship, so we need maximum effort and concentration on that,” he said.
“I expect here, Red Bull will come back in strong form because it’s an aero circuit, but Williams will be strong. I don’t think it was only Austria that was good for them. In Canada, they were also very good and here they will be a threat,” he said.
“If we don’t score points, and finish sixth or seventh in the championship, that will hurt the team for next year, because of the economic prizes and things going on,” he added.
SUSIE WOLFF
Reuters, SILVERSTONE, England
Susie Wolff accelerated out of the Silverstone pit lane yesterday to become the first woman driver in 22 years to take part in a Grand Prix weekend.
It is a big step for the 31-year-old Scot, who replaces Williams’ Finnish regular Valtteri Bottas for first practice at the British Grand Prix, and a day she has been working toward for years.
The 90-minute session will be the closest she has come to ending what is now a 38-year wait for a woman to actually race with the men, but it could also be as far as she gets in that ambition.
There are no plans for a race drive, but Wolff aims to show at least that the only barriers for women aspiring to enter the sport should be the same as for the men — the metal ones ringing the circuit.
“I think tomorrow is a really big day for Susie,” deputy team principal Claire Williams, daughter of founder Frank, told reporters. “She goes out there with her peers in a competitive situation. Yes we are doing a lot of setup work over long runs with heavy fuel loads and stuff, but I still think you will be able to judge her more than you have been able to in the past.”
Wolff, wife of Mercedes motorsport head Toto, who is also a Williams shareholder, made her test debut for the team at Silverstone last year.
She will be working through the same program Bottas — who finished third at the previous race in Austria — would have carried out.
That means preparing the car for the second and third practice sessions and today’s qualifying, while providing feedback for the engineers.
“She’s got to deliver technically, which she’s done,” Claire Williams said. “If she hadn’t have done that we wouldn’t have allowed her to progress up into the test driver role last year and then the Friday sessions this year. We’re not running her tomorrow to see how good she is.”
Fellow drivers welcomed her involvement.
Lewis Hamilton, the 2008 world champion, who is a race favorite for Mercedes in his home Grand Prix, said Wolff was one of the few women he could recall competing against in junior series.
“We raced Formula Renault together. She was great. We shared a podium together a couple of times. I think she’s done remarkably well in her career,” the Briton said. “It’s going to be really cool, I think, to see her in a Formula One car tomorrow.”
Italian Lella Lombardi, in 1976, was the last woman to race in Formula One.
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