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How many world champs ....
Up to Real-Life Racing
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does it take to fill a grid ?
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/formula_one/15934329.stm
That'll be 6 for next season I think. Is this a slightly morbid example of the Law of Unintended Consequences, with improved F1 safety extending careers and blocking the seats for the young types ?
"My hunger for F1 has recently become overwhelming," said Raikkonen.
Ha. That's a funny way of wording "My total mediocrity in WRC has left me without a giant unjustified paycheck in 2012, so it's back to the world of bottomless buckets of money in F1."
He actually fared pretty well in WRC given his time in rallying in general and not getting full time ride support in the Jr team. Still, I do think it was motivation driven: "The learning curve in WRC is steeper than my party schedule allows". I doubt he is getting a ton of money from Renault. He alerady has enough money for a lifetime supply of vodka for his already paid for yacht, and his gorrilla suit is still in good shape. He probably is racing F1 again for the fun of it, same as Schumacher, because he is already up that learning curve, and he has an offer from a team that might be able to make a run (they really got screwed by the early season change of exhaust rules...look how strong they started the season). And F1 is perfect for him. Testing rules mean he cannot practice a lot even if he wanted to, but he doesn't want to, so no advantage ceded to those than do want to.
And I agree with Alesi, "Kimi has more natural speed than just about anyone who has ever raced a Grand Prix car". I also think early in his career the McLaren reliability squandered that. Later in his career his own attitude squandered that. If his attitude isn't different than with Ferrari he'll go right back to setting the most fast laps every season without winning DCs or even very many races. Note that with Kubica still possible down the line, that may be exactly what Renault wants. Someone in the car who gets the car to the limit, so they get telemetry and data of much higher dev value. With Petrov and Senna leaving car on the table, they don't really know where they are at any given time, car dev wise. So better dev capability without threatening Kubica as the DC candidate. Note this is totally different than when Schumacher was on top, because the analysis side needs little driver feedback anymore. They just need data with the car at the edge now. Hence the value of Schumacher, Barichello, Webber, and those high end feedback types is reduced.