Kimi Raikkonen will continue his World Rally Championship career in 2011
The 2007 Formula 1 world champion Kimi Raikkonen recently revealed that he would drive in World Rally Championship in 2011 after setting up his own team under the name ICE 1 Racing.
There were rumours that he might return to Formula 1 as RenaultF1 team offered him a spot and claimed that the Fin contacted them for a possible Formula 1 seat. But he turned these rumours down himself as he stated that he does not intend to race in Formula
1 anytime soon.
Just two days before Christmas, it was revealed that Kimi’s father Matti Raikkonen passed away and since the former McLaren and Ferrari driver was pretty close to his father, there was speculation that he might quit motorsports for good altogether.
However, shortly before the deadline, Raikkonen stuck an entry for the season-opening Swedish rally and it is expected that he will compete in most of this year’s World Rally Championship in a brand new Citreon DS3 WRC.
His own team on the other hand is committed to 10 of the 13 rallies in 2011 and it is funded by Raikkonen’s own sponsors.
Raikkonen began his Formula 1 career in 2001 but he recently stated that he did not miss Formula 1 during his first season in WRC.
“Of course I thought about it, because you think about everything. But I never really thought seriously about it, because actually I didn't miss Formula One at all this season,” he said.
Kimi did not have a very consistent first season in the sport as he retired from three rallies but also won a stage in Germany and finished in fifth place overall in Turkey with his team while driving with Citroen Junior Team.
Steve Robertson, Kimi’s well known manager admits that the Fin still has a lot to learn and he is definitely trying his best to work it out on the track. It would be interesting to see how the Fin performs this year without his father by his side who was
clearly one of his biggest inspirations in life.
“With Kimi's limited experience, it may be better to do additional testing while the others are competing,” Steve told the media.
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