Kimi Raikkonen says he would race in other series as well as Formula One if he had the chance to.
Raikkonen returned to F1 in 2012 following a two-year absence during which time he competed in the World Rally Championship and NASCAR Trucks. Last year while contracted to Lotus he took the opportunity to test a GP3 car with Koiranen GP (pictured).
Asked in today’s press conference whether he would like to have raced in the time of Jack Brabham, who died earlier this week, Raikkonen said he would like to race outside F1 if he could, as Brabham did.
“Obviously I read and it was sad to hear that he passed away,” Raikkonen said.
“Obviously these days are different than the days that they used to race and they could do different categories, different races. I think it would be very nice if we would be able to do different things at the same time and different races and try different things more so…
“But the problem is everything just gets so much more expensive these days and obviously people are more scared that you get hurt and they try to limit everything what you do.
“So it’s a shame because I think it would be more fun for everybody and the other sports would also benefit from it, and F1. It would be nice to do stuff like that.”
2014 Monaco Grand Prix
Image © GP3/LAT
Magnificent Geoffrey (@magnificent-geoffrey)
21st May 2014, 15:23
I love this romantic idea of Formula 1 drivers being able to race in all sorts of different series before congregating together at the next Grand Prix venue to compete in the next round of the championship.
Formula 1 really must have felt like a true international all-star racing series back in the day.
Broc Smith (@strifeforce)
21st May 2014, 15:29
I think there needs to be another International Race of Champions series, just focused more on street courses with the F1, NASCAR, and Indycar guys (heck, even invite the WEC guys) fighting it out. I’d watch it as long as there was like 8 or 10 events a year so there are not that many scheduling conflicts.
OmarR-Pepper (@)
21st May 2014, 15:44
@strifeforce yeah! imagine this, during winter break (one race in December and another in February), another during summer break (is summer break the same in WRC and WEC?) and other one or 2 any other time of the year, They could run on the punctuation system that drops their worst result, to be fair if some guys can’t attend due to their schedule on their main job. And it it’s a mix of disciplines, it should be:
– one GP track (maybe one that is not in the F1 calendar)
– one rally course (in a city, so nobody gets so much a chance to get hurt, a flashy place, Dubai maybe?)
– a 6-hour endurance race
– the Indy oval. just 250 miles ;P
– a race in GT cars (I’d love to see them racing in Bugattis or Lambos)
– a moto GP race.
Daydreaming got me so much sorry!!!
Broc Smith (@strifeforce)
21st May 2014, 16:05
That would be epic @omarr-pepper
matt90 (@matt90)
21st May 2014, 16:54
Motogp is a bit far removed, and a 6 hour race would require teams, but it would be cool to see the best in the world doing different things.
Jimbo Hull (@kartingjimbo)
21st May 2014, 16:56
/drool
WilliamB (@william-brierty)
21st May 2014, 18:30
@strifeforce – My ideal 22 car International Race of Champions grid…
Fernando Alonso
Scott Dixon
Loic Duval
Augusto Farfus
Jeff Gordon
Lewis Hamilton
Nico Hulkenberg
Ryan Hunter-Reay
Jimmie Johnson
Tom Kristensen
Jari-Matti Latvala
Sebastien Loeb
Andre Lotterer
Frédéric Makowiecki
Sebastien Ogier
Jason Plato
Will Power
Kimi Raikkonen
Mike Rockenfeller
Nico Rosberg
Bruno Spengler
Sebastian Vettel
NO MOTOGP RIDERS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Broc Smith (@strifeforce)
21st May 2014, 19:50
@william-brierty The list looks great! The only other person i would add in would be Tony Stewart, as he has won an IRL championship and three Sprint Cup titles.
Seeing that lineup would make any racing fan stop what they were doing for 3+ hours lol. Guaranteed.
WilliamB (@william-brierty)
21st May 2014, 20:02
@strifeforce – Agreed, Stewart deserves a seat, sorry Jason…
Iestyn Davies (@fastiesty)
21st May 2014, 20:40
You could add Valentino Rossi to that list as well…. how many Moto GP titles, karting champion, and only a few tenths off the pace when testing for Ferrari..
Mcquiz (@mcquiz)
21st May 2014, 22:24
Nice list, I’d bet that Loeb would win though.
JackJ
22nd May 2014, 16:09
I concur. That guy wins everything. Would’ve loved to see him in F1 but alas..
Wesley (@)
21st May 2014, 22:33
Awesome IROC list!…I would have Robert Kubica and Kurt Busch in there though.
jimmy
22nd May 2014, 11:51
Montoya
jimmy
22nd May 2014, 11:52
Solberg, Block, Foust and Pastrana
bull mello (@bullmello)
22nd May 2014, 1:28
The concept of really being a racer in any car, anywhere, anytime is what led me to Formula 1 in the 1960s. I was just a kid in the US, into stock car racing and then got into the Indy 500 when guys like Jim Clark were participating. Many drivers drove in different racing series. Watching drivers go back and forth like that, true racers glad to race anywhere, it was a golden age for sure. I became fascinated with Jim Clark, wondering how he could be so good, no matter what or where he drove. I had to watch F1, and that’s the way it was…
These days, big business and contracts work against that concept to protect their own interests. I understand why, but it is unfortunate.
Osvaldas31 (@osvaldas31)
21st May 2014, 15:25
I also would like to see F1 drivers racing in other racing categories, but nowadays F1 drivers are more involved in their job – not only trying to stay fit, but also working with their engineers when they are not racing, driving simulator etc. In addition, the season is longer with more races than ever. There’s also a risk of being hurt, which was proved with Kubica. So I don’t see it chaning anytime soon.
OmarR-Pepper (@)
21st May 2014, 15:35
@osvaldas31 not just Kubica, but also Webber while cycling, Button in one of his thriatlons and Schum when he had a motorbike accident in 2009 that impeded him to take Massa’s place (or it could have been PR when he was not ready for the task so quickly). But Kimi is right, other motorsports wpuld benefit with “free marketing”. Imagine saying “These weekend the BTCC has Hamilton and Button”, or “WSR receives Vergne on this race” that would be awesome!
Klon (@)
21st May 2014, 16:17
Not to mention the infamous “tennis accident” by Juan Pablo Montoya.
matiascasali (@matiascasali)
21st May 2014, 17:33
Here in Argentina the TC2000 (something like the BTCC) once a year race a 200km race with a shared car, one driver frome the sport, and some guest driver (Alain Menu, Jacques Villeneuve, and some others) and draws some attention. Yes, i can see F1 Drivers in other series like a good thing, but, i guess after Kubica, the insurance, contracts and so on must ban them for doing any other “risky activities”
JerseyF1 (@jerseyf1)
21st May 2014, 23:05
@osvaldas31 I’m not convinced that it can’t happen now. One of the problems is that F1 teams invest so much in their drivers that they want to protect that investment. In the past that was not so much the case. I would have thought that Raikkonen would be able to negotiate being able to do other racing into his contract but the downside would be a lower salary. Clearly not all drivers would be in a position to do that, but several of the top drivers probably could if they (or their management) chose to.
Of course Raikkonen thinks it would be nice if they could do that and still have lucrative F1 deals but presumably wasn’t bothered enough to push for it in his contract.
Steve K
21st May 2014, 15:31
Kurt Busch is a racing god this weekend. Drivers that cross over are just cooler than the rest.
hunocsi (@hunocsi)
21st May 2014, 15:32
Ah, how nice it would be to see F1 drivers compete in WEC (especially Le Mans), WSR, GP2/3 (mainly rookies), Indycar, GT sometimes… Shame they aren’t allowed anymore.
anon
21st May 2014, 20:39
The problem is, a lot of series are scheduling their races at the same time – for example, four of the eight races in the 2014 WEC clash with F1 races, which would make it impossible for a driver to compete in both series (few WEC teams would want a driver who could only drive for half a season).
Logistically, the practicality of racing in multiple series no longer works quite as well as it did in the past, and nor do the economics – after all, the reason why F1 drivers tended to compete in events like the Indy 500 in the 1960’s was because the potential prize money was significantly higher (Graham Hill pointing out that he made more money from winning the 1966 Indy 500 than when he won the F1 world championship).
anon
21st May 2014, 20:39
The problem is, a lot of series are scheduling their races at the same time – for example, four of the eight races in the 2014 WEC clash with F1 races, which would make it impossible for a driver to compete in both series (few WEC teams would want a driver who could only drive for half a season).
Logistically, the practicality of racing in multiple series no longer works quite as well as it did in the past, and nor do the economics – after all, the reason why F1 drivers tended to compete in events like the Indy 500 in the 1960’s was because the potential prize money was significantly higher (Graham Hill pointing out that he made more money from winning the 1966 Indy 500 than when he won the F1 world championship).
BlackJack (@danieljaksa)
21st May 2014, 15:32
Funny, I would’ve thought Kimi to be keen on doing more promotional gigs (I say with a big hint of sarcasm)
ElBasque (@elbasque)
21st May 2014, 15:48
Disillusionment 2.0 = true
James
21st May 2014, 15:53
I just wish they’d bring back an end of season duel for all of the drivers as they used to in the good ol’ days!
Get everyone in the same machinery, be it Renault Clios, something a little pokier a la BTCC or maybe even take it a little further as did with the BMW Procars events…
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BMW_M1_Procar_Championship
Roald (@roald)
21st May 2014, 18:12
Makes me think of this, the way Senna tackles that corner is just insane:
http://youtu.be/66PU_jUZi8k
Breno (@austus)
21st May 2014, 22:43
Like that time Webber beat Vettel. Was it top gear?
Alexander (@)
21st May 2014, 16:09
Some one mentioned ROC, that would be great, that way it could also be a championship between countries and let some less known drivers race against the pros.. Multiple races per year, different machinery, different venues so on.. Now we just need some one to invest in this epic new racing series!
SP (@jb001)
21st May 2014, 16:56
Perhaps he should switch to Indycar :p Simon Pagenaud had time to do rallying, race LMPs and still hold down his full time Indycar seat with good results.
Kimi’s experimentation with Nascar in 2011 was very interesting, I think with some more time in stock cars he would have picked up the speed to be competitive. As it was, his car control ability shined through despite his lack of experience in the oval\stock car world.
socksolid (@socksolid)
21st May 2014, 17:31
I can’t think how it would be in any way negative for ferrari to have kimi drive some races using the ferrari gt cars for example in some italian championships or in other races that would fit his schedule Or letting kimi do some more nascar. This year there is a nice slot between the russian and american gps and there are opportunities for kimi to do a nascar truck or nationwide race in that slot. Unless ferrari has planned something else in that time slot that is not racing…
Daniel (@collettdumbletonhall)
21st May 2014, 17:47
I know it’s not the same but there’s always iRacing and I am sure he could get away with some karting now and again.
Jonathan Sarginson
21st May 2014, 18:26
Most of you kids are too young to have seen the likes of the great Jimmy Clark three-wheeling a Lotus Cortina when not struggling with the Lotus 30..oh yes, I forget, winning the Indy 500; F2 between F1 weekends, plus GT Cars etc… It goes on, and he wasn’t the only one…just the Best One
jpowell (@jpowell)
21st May 2014, 19:42
The great thing about this time was that Jimmy was challenged and beaten in F2 by the likes of Jackie Stewart and Jochen Rindt this demonstrated that as undeniably great Jimmy was he could be beaten by these two super talented drivers. Not only were we treated to superb competition by Grand Prix drivers of the day you got to meet them in the Flesh. I remeber taking my little brother to a F2 event at Crystal Palace and speaking briefly to Stewart and Rindt.I cherish this moment bravo Kimi ,it won’t happen but it’s a great sentiment.
dutchtreat (@dutchtreat)
21st May 2014, 19:29
Yes, and don’t forget to put the 2 or 3 really good female drivers in this “Series”
Sven (@crammond)
21st May 2014, 20:10
Ok, so I stopped being a Kimi-supporter 3 days ago, when he said he likes Hip-Hop. But, well, now, count me back in again. I like Kimi.
Bobby (@f1bobby)
21st May 2014, 21:51
I would love it if there was a driver today who, like in the 50s and 60s, took part in other categories. Imagine Hamilton, Alonso or Vettel rocking up at the Indy 500!
xjr15jaaag (@xjr15jaaag)
21st May 2014, 22:55
I’d really like to see an international kart race series for drivers from F1, Indycar, Touring cars, WEC, World rally, RallyCross, *shudder* NASCAR, GT racing, V8 supercars, WSK and SKUSA.
It could be run as a multiple round championship using tuned twin Aixro XR50 wankel engines (could be about 150hp maybe)
They would race on the worlds best race tracks such as Suzuka, Spa, Silverstone, Laguna Seca, the Isle of Man TT course, the Nordschleife, Mount Panorama, Macau, and Circuit de la Sarthe)
They could even do an ice race in Finland or Sweden for the benefit of the rally drivers
Testing would be disallowed; only a half hour practice session on the Saturday morning for example.
Only 1 set of tyres would be used per race meeting which would cover practice, qualifying and the race.
There would be a knock-out qualifying format, so it could be a trade-off; sacrifice track position for slightly better tyres, or go further in qualifying and secure a decent grid spot and have slightly worse tyres in the race?
Races would be about 1 hour long, fuel tanks would probably need to be about 15 liter or so to go the distance, no fuel or tyre stops, no aerodynamic bodywork; just the nassau panel, front and rear bumper and side pods.
No gears to worry about, team radio or any of that nonsense; just pure racing.
The qualifying would be similair to the current F1 system, but with slightly longer sessions due to the large grids.
I may have gone off at a bit of a tengent, but still…