NOVEMBER 12, 2000

FIA poised to put brake on Raikkonen's F1 ambitions

While the FIA may have given Jenson Button the green light for an F1 super licence on the basis of his outstanding performance during testing last winter, his contemporary Kimi Raikkonen's lack of experience his likely to put a brake on his Grand Prix aspirations for at least another year.

FIA regulations current require that an F1 aspirant achieves the following levels of achievement; a top four placing in the final classification of the International F3000 championship OR a top three finish in five races OR a top six finish in ten races OR a top three finish in the final classification of the Japanese F3000 championship OR a first six championship finish in CART or the IRL OR a national F3 championship victory in several specific countries.

Raikkonen has none of these achievements under his belt and sources close to the FIA say that it is "very unlikely indeed" that he will granted a licence to race in F1

FIA president Max Mosley will not comment on the matter, but it is clear he is increasingly concerned about very inexperienced drivers missing out on F3 and F3000 - crucial steps on the ladder, in his view - on the way to F1.

The FIA F1 Commission will have the final say on Raikkonen's future when it meets in Monaco on 7 December. But insiders at the governing body hint that Peter Sauber would be well advised to start casting around for another possible candidate to partner Nick Heidfeld in next year's FIA Formula 1 World Championship.