MAY 13, 2006

Kimi and Ferrari

The stories about Kimi Raikkonen moving to Ferrari in 2007 have been knocking around for months in Formula 1 circles but there are increasing signs that the deal has been done and that the announcement is being delayed to allow Michael Schumacher to make up his mind about what he wants to do, without being seen to be being pushed out of the team. Michael may believe that he can beat Raikkonen and there is a lot to back up such an idea. At the same time Michael may decide that he does not want to be pushing that hard at his age and could decide that he is happy to leave the sport challenging for the World Championship at the end of this season. Whatever the case Ferrari has Felipe Massa there to step in whatever happens.

For the moment no-one is saying yes or no about the rumours but the undercurrents are now sweeping in that direction.

"I want him to be World Champion," said Ron Dennis on Friday. "I'd much prefer it to be in one of our cars than someone else's but I believe in choices and if Kimi chooses to stay or go or we chose to offer him a drive then I want him to succeed. I'm absolutely sure that the best thing a driver can do is stay in one team - history shows that, but that's not always the opinion that a driver has. I respect everything he has done and all he's brought to the team and I'll continue to respect that if he takes up one of the options that he has and I'm sure that he'll respect us when we take up our options. The position we're both in is exactly the same - we don't have a decision to take at the moment. Kimi knows everything about the team. The one thing we all know is that life looks greener on the other side of the fence. All the things you could expect me to say to him and his management, I've said, and you can expect all the other teams that are interested in him have said similar things."