In his pre-Jordan Rally blog, Kimi Raikkonen says that rally is “just a bit more relaxed and friendly” than Formula 1 and “there’s still room for me to be myself.”
[Note: Spoiler for the first day of the Jordan Rally comes next.]
And so far at the WRC event, he seems to be relaxed, standing in 10th place after the first day’s stages. He did have another off-road moment, but pulled himself back up into the running. He’s 3:50 off leader Jari-Matta Latvala, who leads the Sebastiens — Ogier and Loeb, respectively — by just more than 30 seconds.
The complete top 10 looks like this:
Position Driver Car Time/Gap to 1st
1. Jari-Matti Latvala Ford 1h11m31.5s
2. Sebastien Ogier Citroen + 30.2s
3. Sebastien Loeb Citroen + 31.8s
4. Petter Solberg Citroen + 32.5s
5. Mikko Hirvonen Ford + 42.2s
6. Dani Sordo Citroen + 45.4s
7. Henning Solberg Ford + 1m20.9s
8. Matthew Wilson Ford + 2m01.1s
9. Federico Villagra Ford + 2m48.2s
10. Kimi Raikkonen Citroen + 3m50.5s
But back to our old Formula 1 friend. Here’s more from Kimi’s blog:
After the shakedown I had a bit of a chance to relax on the terrace at the hotel and look at the view over the Dead Sea. It’s such a hectic life that it’s nice to empty your head sometimes and think of nothing much. And what’s the point of going to all these different places if you don’t take the time to look at them occasionally? My life used to be a blur of airports and circuits and hotels but I’m determined to enjoy myself this year.
[snip]
I have to say that I really like the world of rallying so far. It’s impossible to compare it to Formula One as it would be like comparing a square to a triangle, but everything seems just a bit more relaxed and friendly. Everyone has been very welcoming, but there’s still room for me to be myself.
[snip]
I’m still at the stage where there’s more time to come out of me than anything else. But if it all comes together – and even up to now, there have been a few moments where that has started to happen – I’d like to set a few decent times. Wish me luck…”
I have to say, that does not sound like a guy who’s interesting in returning to F1. Of course, money can have a way of changing people’s attitudes.
