Raikkonen to join Ferrari, says Renault boss
Flavio Briatore has revealed Renault will miss out on signing Kimi Raikkonen because the Finn has already decided to join Ferrari.
Raikkonen has long been rumoured to be quitting McLaren for Ferrari next season but continually denied a decision had been made.
However, Briatore claims his attempts to lure Raikkonen as Fernando Alonso’s replacement at Renault were thwarted by a Ferrari contract, which will be announced on Sunday.
Briatore, who has promoted Heikki Kovalainen to the race team instead, also expects Raikkonen to partner Felipe Massa as Michael Schumacher will retire.
He said: “Kimi choose to sign this pre-contract with Ferrari. Good luck. We will try to beat him next year.
“You try to do whatever you think is the best. For me Raikkonen was committed very early with Ferrari and the fact, we believe, next year he is driving for Ferrari with Massa takes away that option.
“We tried for Raikkonen but that was not possible so the best is Kovalainen.
“For me the dream was Fernando and Kimi but what is not possible is not possible.”
McLaren chief Ron Dennis echoed Briatore’s sentiments, virtually admitting defeat in his bid to keep Raikkonen at McLaren.
“We are under no illusions about how things will unfold with Kimi,” he said.
Dennis will start next season with a new line-up from the one which began this term, with Juan Pablo Montoya heading to NASCAR.
Briatore revealed he turned down the chance to sign the Colombian and insisted Renault will be better off with a rookie driver in the shape of Kovalainen.
“With Fernando leaving we looked away and felt we needed new blood to beat what exists in Formula One,” he added.
“People keep saying Kovalainen has no experience but this is utter rubbish - Montoya had experience but he is not in Formula One anymore.
“We had the possibility to take a name driver, Montoya was available but we are not looking for a name.”
But Briatore believes he would not necessarily have needed to find a new partner for Giancarlo Fisichella had Renault committed their long-term future to Formula One earlier.
Doubts persisted over Renault’s future in Formula One over the winter, a fact Alonso alluded to when explaining the announcement of his 2007 McLaren deal in December.
Renault subsequently signed up to the sport beyond 2008 and Briatore suspects the delaying in making that decision influenced world champion Alonso.
“You never know,” he said. “Put it this way, unfortunately it was not the right moment when Renault was not decided for the future.
“I believe that if this happened two months early I’m sure we would still have Fernando with us.”
