When Lotus offered Kimi Räikkönen a seat in the end of 2011 I was very glad. Formula One really needs a character like Kimi and the whole Lotus team seamed very happy to work with him. Many said that Kimi and Lotus were a very good match right from the start.
At the end of the winter testing Kimi was the fastest driver with his Lotus even though he had been away for 2 years.
Kimi was happy with the team. They had promised him a good car that can win races and a nice salary.
But then it seemed that the car wasn't as good as it was in the winter tests. In the first qualifying Kimi didn't even make it to Q2. Was there a problem with the car or did the team take him to the pits too early? Some said that Kimi wasn't as good as he used to be but somehow managed to finish 7th after all the complications.
In the next qualifying Kimi got to Q3 but was only 10th. In the race he managed to get 5th place.
The 3rd race was in China. There Kimi was driving towards his first podium after his comeback but Lotus didn't take him in to the pits in time and he lost it all. Kimi did his best but his team let him down.
In the 4th qualifying he was again only 11th but almost won the race. Why couldn't Lotus get Kimi's car to work properly on Saturdays?
After this Kimi drove like a superstar in almost every race and broke Michael Schumacher's consistency record, meaning that no other driver had scored so much points in a row before.
At the same time Kimi and many others in the team didn't get their salaries. Kimi had to fly to every GP with his own money and what I have heard even pay for his own hotel rooms from time to time. How many other drivers would or could do this?
Kimi said to Lotus that it's OK and told the media that there isn't any money issues with them. He was very loyal, Kimi even signed a new contract with them before he got his money from them.
At the end of 2012 Kimi got his award for the 3rd place in the drivers championship and also his money from Lotus at last. It seemed for a while that Lotus couldn't pay him at all. There were rumors in the media that Bernie Ecclestone himself had helped Lotus with their finance issues after 2012.
In 2013 Kimi started by winning the first Grand Prix in Australia and Lotus were sure that they will be Red Bulls biggest contender this season.
Then the money issues came back to haunt them. Some of the staff left the team when they realized that they are not going to get their money again this year in time. Kimi continued to race without getting paid. Lotus still owes Kimi over 20 million dollars.
When Ferrari offered Kimi a contract he really wanted to stay with Lotus but he wanted to win and also know that the team has money to make the car better the whole season. Of course he and his managers wanted to get paid also so that was one very good reason as well.
When Kimi and many others announced that they are leaving the team, Gerard Lopez told the media that he is disappointed and thought that Kimi wasn't in it for the money.
This comment made me want to open my mouth about this situation!
Is Gerard Lopez taking advantage of Kimi when he doesn't ask for his salary or is Lopez really that stupid that he thinks that Kimi only drives to get money?
If they promised Kimi a winning car with a salary and they can't give him nothing they promised then what is the big surprise? Lotus has clearly been "good" for the past two years almost only because of Kimi. If they would put another driver in the same car they would see the difference. I mean look at Grosjean! He is fast but he doesn't get good results and when he does the car has problems.
Why did Lopez blame everything on Kimi? What about all the other workers that wanted to leave?
Eric Boullier wasn't as harsh as Lopez but even he told the media that he was unhappy that Kimi had talked about the money issues. How many really believed that they had everything under control?
I knew all of this much before Kimi said anything. Wasn't it obvious?
The Lotus management even said that they took Kimi back into the sport and they gave him a new chance. This is not true because Kimi was talking with other teams at the same time. For example he was interested of buying a big share of Williams and race for the team at the same time. He wanted to drive for Lotus because they promised him a better car. Kimi's own mother said this to a newspaper in an interview and I believe that her information source (her son) is probably pretty reliable.
Lotus should stop crying and do something about the situation. If I was in their position I would wanna show Räikkönen that he made a huge mistake that he left the team and make the best car of 2014. Of course you need money to do that and Lotus doesn't have it.. and that's why Kimi left I guess..
Ayrton Senna asked McLaren for 1 million dollars per race and even though he was my biggest hero I know that he wouldn't have driven for free for anybody. Why is Kimi a bad guy for leaving Lotus?
