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When Schumacher made his comeback in 2010 a lot of people said he will bring a large fanbase and will improve f1's declining image after the crashgate, spygate and tire fiasco. But in my opinion, it did not really make as much of a difference as people hoped for, because of a poor car and being overshadowed by Rosberg, his presence was hardly felt. When rumors emerged that Kimi Raikkonen would be coming back to F1, I came across a lot of people questioning if his comeback will make any difference to the commercial appeal of F1. This was mainly on the grounds of his falsely perceived lack of motivation when he retired in 2009.

This thread has nothing to do with his comeback being successful or meeting expectations or comparisons to Schumacher's comeback. I want to know the general consensus on - if his comeback has really made a positive difference to formula1 commercially?

In my opinion it has definitely made a difference, not as a sole independent factor but surely unique in its own way. His comeback formed, probably one of the best grids with 6 world champions. He has also become the highlight of the year in several aspects.

PlanetSport's top 10 moments of the year



In terms of racing, he has been involved in several scenarios where he has been fair and clean as opposed to the new generation being aggressive and causing accidents. In terms of entertainment, he has inadvertently given us plenty of good moments. I think, in his own unique way he has contributed a lot to F1 this year.

I would tend to agree. Watching him race is a pleasure. He has really won my respect as a racer (as if he needed it) in a big way this year. The close racing he's had with Button, Schumacher, even Hulkenburg, this year were great fun to watch! Contrast that with the crashes Maldonado, Grosjean, and other newbies have had.

Here's a photo I took of Kimi making the pass on Hulkenburg at T1 @ COTA.

http://public.fotki.com/snk99/2012-f1-u ... 9-jpg.html

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I think a major factor was his huge Fan base.. I wouldnt say he has the biggest fan base, but its significant... When he shifted to rally, i remember reading an interview of some official who said that WRC gained a lot of exposure coz of Kimi....
He was always in the mix this year... and his wheel to wheel moves surely need to be shown to gro, maldo, perez etc....

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KIMI: Yeah,Winning feels good.But I am not the type of guy to jump up and down and rub it in everyone's face.

Kimi has added a lot. I don't feel like going into it, but he made the entire grid racier.

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It's been a pleasure to have Kimi back, just for the sake of having Kimi back.
And all the good fun having Kimi back means. Great radio messages, great anti-media personality, but above all the great racing he provide.

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Lewis Hamilton #1!

Alonso, Kimi, Grosjean, Massa, Bianchi, Hulkenberg, Button, Perez.

Mercedes AMG Petronas
Ferrari
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Vodafone McLaren Mercedes

He has enhanced my knowledge of the Interlagos circuit escape roads and gates considerably.

still available to read

http://www.wrc.com/news/raikkonen-effec ... ?fid=11995

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KIMI: Yeah,Winning feels good.But I am not the type of guy to jump up and down and rub it in everyone's face.

He added a lot to the comedic aspect with his detours, apparent disinterest, interview swearing and mechanic abuse.

Oh, and some of the racing wasn't bad either.

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We want heroes, but there are few, mainly it's cars - Pedro De La Rosa

Surely brings more to F1 then likes of webber, massa etc!!!!

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KIMI: Yeah,Winning feels good.But I am not the type of guy to jump up and down and rub it in everyone's face.

Commercially Bernie will be happy. He was one of the most popular drivers before he retired. I don't think the majority of his fans left the sport with him in 2009, though I know one of my Chinese friends who basically worshipped Kimi and McLaren and went off the sport in a big way when he retired. He was one of the biggest stars when F1 first arrived there.

That said, the commercial contribution and the contribution to the fans are two very different things. Kimi has given us some great moments this year. Bahrain has given Bernie a lot of money, but has not given us a lot of great moments.

commercially he has done well for f1. his personality is different and refreshing thats why he has many fans. but with racing talent, he is a good driver not excellent.

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F1 without Kimi is like Star Trek without Spock. Sure they both have a low key personality most of the time but it raises the mystery and intrigue when they do something out of the ordinary.

I don't remember a lot of people saying Schumi's return would make F1 more honourable, sporting and morally responsible!

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Klaus Kinski: making me question my heroes since January 2013

I said Schumacher's return was supposed to improve the image after it suffered a few blows, I said nothing about his comeback fixing the moral infringements. You drew the link!

That is spot on.

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(Admitedly coming from a huge Kimi fan) I fail to see how even the biggest Kimi hater could feel that he hasn't made this season significantly more interesting and entertaining.

Not only has he won a race and put in some brilliant drives but he's been involved in several of the best overtakes (which were firm but always fair), pretty much all of the funniest moments of the season and his attitude is just so refreshing.

So the FIA believe Vettel pass was legal. That's not very helpful.

Key word is believe.... so we still don't know whether it was a legal or illegal pass.

I think the outcome will be dependent on who will actually decide this??? Will it be, Charlie Whiting, the driver stewards from Brazil, the FIA board members or a random committee formal by the FIA.
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Personally think I was illegal, I know Vettel passed a marshalls post showing a green flag but the steering wheel dash clearly had the yellow lights on after passing the green flag marshall post so therefore he is still racing under yellow.

Also, has anyone seen an onboard of the pass from Vergne's car??

Would be interesting to see if his steering wheel also had the yellow lights on and whether he raised his hand thinking WTF were under yellow but then realized it was Vettel and decided not radio the team/FIA team about it.

If Vergne had told the team/FIA over the radio, the race stewards would quickly viewed it from Vettel's on board and seen the yellow dash lights on when Vettel made the pass. Then they would've given Vettel that penalty during the race.

Oops, sorry added the last two entries to the wrong topic

I was one of the people sceptical about Kimis return and I've never been a massive fan of the guy but right now I'm so glad he came back. Hope Lotus build something decent in 2013 (probably an evolution of this years car) and Kimi can challenge again. The more world champions winning races, the better!

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#10

It doesnt matter if Kimi's comeback made a huge impact on F1 commercially. What matters more is he is back. He always provides entertainment ontrack and off, without shooting his mouth too much. Always a pleasure watching him race. Whether its his off track excursions in Brazil or his participating in a snowmobile race in a gorilla suit under the name James Hunt or even almost dozing off in the car in the 2008 opening grand prix while leading. I mean how the hell can you doze off at 200+ kms an hour????

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I think this has been one of the best contributions by Kimi this year. He's been a fantastic racer, and seems to know exactly when to make a move and when to give up. His overtakes of Schumi and Hulkenberg were spectacular, but even his ceding of position to Hamilton in Japan was exemplary. A lot of drivers adopt a pass-me-at-your-peril approach where they will risk an accident rather than be overtaken. This is not the case with Kimi. This is one of the reasons why Kimi finished every race this year and lost multiple positions on only 2 occasions which I can recall - with fading tyres at the end of the race in China, and when he took the scenic route in Brazil.

Other than that, his no-nonsense attitude and obvious speed have also been great additions to the championships though I can't really say how much this has helped F1 as a whole. At the very least, it has made the F1 field more competitive. If Kimi gets a more competitive car in 2013, and Felipe shows the form of the last few races, there is much to look forward to next year!

Personally, I was really excited for the 2012 season start when the new came that Kimi would be back. I followed F1 in 2010-2011 just as much, but it felt like someone was missing.

His drives this year have shown he is one of the absolute best drivers in the world, and his candor and quiet, no drama, as-few-words-as-possible attitude is absolutely refreshing in the modern world of corporate double-talk, positive-spin PC bullshit

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Beyond the Kimi being Kimi part of the entertainment he brought, I really feel he took Lotus from being a midfield team, to having a car that can mix it up with the Big 3 of Red Bull, McLaren and Ferrari. That really brought a lot of entertainment to watching for me. This was a very good season IMO that it wasn't one of those 1 team, or even 2 team seasons, where the questions were... whether team A (Red Bull this year) or team B (McLaren) had the speed that weekend, so they were clearly the favorite with the question being whether Alonso could drive the wheels off and take the victory with the right circumstances... but with Kimi, there was a true legitimate wild card each week that was added to the mix. He didn't win any more races than Maldonado or Rosberg, and just 1 more than the rest of the field, but it was a much different feel than the usual '1-off' winners.

Each week there was IMO a feel of 'where is Kimi?' and he seemed to most often be right there in the mix to challenge. For that was an even more interesting aspect to follow than the usual sorting out of the midfield, watching Sauber seem to slip back, Williams show a few flashes that maybe just maybe they might turn the corner again, and seeing Force India take the lead of that pack and watching to see how quickly Hulk could move up the order (to me he's the big positive surprise of the season, and a shame he's not sliding into a seat with 1 of the top 4 instead of Perez).

But that Kimi 'wild card' made the season such a pleasure as suddenly there were 2 guys who could upset the more dominant Red Bull/McLaren.

Then throw in the whole different attitude/approach he seems to have, and its just extra entertainment added on top.