Kimi Raikkonen may not be racing during the final Formula One races of the season.
The 34-year-old champion said that he has not been paid a single Euro this year and is considering boycotting Lotus for the final two races in the United States and Brazil. Raikkonen said that he almost decided to skip this Sunday’s race in Abu Dhabi due to a confrontation with trackside operations director Alan Permane.
Kimi Raikkonen, who arrived in Dubai a day after his fellow drivers, said that he only came to Dubai because he believes that he can work out his issues with the team.
The driver said: “I came here only because hopefully we found an understanding on the certain issues we have been having… Hopefully it will be fixed and we can finish the season as well as we can.”
If those issues aren’t resolved, however, Raikkonen may be ending his season early.
The driver said: “For sure (I would sit out). I enjoy racing, I enjoy driving – but a big part of it is business. Sometimes when that is not dealt with like it should we end up in an unfortunate situation. You have to put the line somewhere, and if it goes over that… it is not really my fault any more.”
Here’s the audio from Raikkonen’s argument with Permane.
The Guardian reports that the main money issue has to do with Raikkonen’s bonus payments. The driver’s contract is reportedly centered around bonuses and the Lotus team is having a hard time paying due to Raikkonen’s performance this year.
Raikkonen said: “It’s easy to say that’s the reason why I didn’t almost come, it’s not that simple. Sometimes it’s not very nice when you hear that you don’t have the interests of the team [first] and then you’ve been paid zero euro the whole year. So it doesn’t put you in the best place, but that’s how it goes and hopefully we found an understanding on both sides how we should deal with the situation right now and fix the issues and try to finish as well as we can.”
Sky Sports reports that Raikkonen was fourth fastest on the track on Friday.
