According to former Formula 1 paddock stalwart Otmar Szafnauer, Kimi Raikkonen almost lined up on the grid with Force India in 2012.
Szafnauer, the former Force India and Aston Martin team principal now co-hosting the High Performance Racing podcast with Jake Humphrey and Rob Smedley, has revealed that he made a strong push to land Raikkonen ahead of the Finn’s famous return to the grid.
After leaving Ferrari at the end of 2009, Raikkonen stepped away from the championship before returning with Lotus in 2012. But Szafnauer wanted the driver to race for him – something he tried to achieve at the season finale in Sao Paulo.
“Nearly signed Kimi Raikkonen to Force India before he went to Lotus,” he said. “Brazil… last race. I had to meet Kimi at the Hyatt in Morumbi. There’s a Japanese restaurant there, so I met him with two of his buddies, trying to convince him to come to Force India. So he says, ‘OK, end of the season, come and talk to me.'”
The driver, as you’d expect, played by his own rules. There was no management to speak of, just two of his friends with an unlikely background.
“His two buddies, I think were the founders of Angry Birds. So there wasn’t a manager… it was the buddies and Raikkonen. So Raikkonen says, ‘Right, let’s go talk at the Red Bull party.’ So Red Bull were having a massive party at the end of the season. And we get there, and I’m thinking we’re not going to get in, the crowds are huge… Kimi waited for every one of us to get in before he stepped through.”
Podium: race winner Kimi Raikkonen, Lotus
Photo by: Steven Tee / Motorsport Images
Unfortunately for the American, he was unable to strike a deal with the 2007 world champion.
“As it turned out, I couldn’t convince him to come to Force India. It was a bit of everything. I mean, you have to convince drivers too that the future looks rosier than the other offers that they have. And to be fair to him, he went to Lotus at a time where they won more races than we did. So they were better.”
In two seasons with the Lotus team, he scored 390 points, 13 podium finishes and wins at the 2012 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix and the 2013 Australian Grand Prix. In fact, his performance was so strong that he almost bankrupted the team thanks to a performance-based bonus structure.
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