Toyota makes Raikkonen an offer
Tuesday, 20 October 2009 00:00
Toyota has offered Kimi Raikkonen a contract for next season, team president John Howett has confirmed.
The Cologne-based squad is chasing a big-name driver as it awaits the Japanese parent company’s decision on its Formula 1 future, and having missed out on the chance to sign Robert Kubica – who is bound for Renault in 2010 – has identified Raikkonen as its main target.
The 2007 world champion, who has agreed to leave Ferrari one year before the end of his contract to make way for Fernando Alonso, has also been strongly linked with a return to McLaren.
Howett told Reuters that Toyota had made Raikkonen a firm offer but admitted the Finn’s management is pushing for a higher salary.
“We don't play too many games. We put on the table what we can afford and what we think is a serious offer in the current market,” said Howett.
"I think genuinely we could work well with him, give him a car that’s quick.”
A return to McLaren is thought the most likely outcome for Raikkonen, but Howett hinted that Toyota would be more tolerant of the party-loving 30-year-old’s lifestyle than the straight-laced Woking team, which sometimes struggled to keep him on a tight rein during his last stint there.
“We have had very good relationships with Scandinavian drivers in the rallying times that enjoy life and it works very well, so we could cope with it as a team,” he said.
Toyota still has both Jarno Trulli and Timo Glock under contract for 2010, but Howett has indicated in various recent comments that it is unlikely to retain Trulli.
The Italian veteran says he has promised team principal Tadashi Yamashina that he will not sign with another team before mid-November, “which is when Toyota will decide its own future in F1”, but – in an apparent reference to Howett – adds that “there is someone who wants to denigrate me through the media”.
Howett admits that Toyota and Trulli do not see eye-to-eye on the terms of a 2010 contract, although he denied this was largely a question of money.
“With both drivers we are still maintaining a degree of discussion,” he said.
“We have put an offer on the table with Jarno, [and] I think that he himself is not dissatisfied with the financial offer.
“The bottom line to some extent is certain issues on the contract and I don't think they are negotiable from our side.
“He may well be in the car next year but it's not at all clear.”
Japanese driver Kamui Kobayashi drew praise from Yamashina for his feisty grand prix debut in Brazil (where he was substituting for the injured Glock), but Howett suggested he didn’t show the raw pace to make him a leading candidate for a 2010 drive.
“He was a bit off the pace overall but it was very impressive,” he said.
“You have to say we have to give him serious consideration but still pace-wise he was a bit slow so we have to see.”
