While eyeing an opportunity at Ferrari, Kimi Raikkonen flirted with Renault and managed to get a $21 Million offer, but he didn’t take it.
Kimi Raikkonen rose to fame with McLaren, but his reliability concerns kept him short of contesting for the championship. Yet, he was giving huge trouble to Michael Schumacher during his dominant era.
In 2006, Ferrari was out of its hegemony spell. Yet, Schumacher was an influencing figure in the sport. He still greatly impacted Ferrari but was in a series of conflicts with then-chairman Luca di Montezemolo.
Montezemolo saw a suitable candidate in Raikkonen to replace Schumacher at Ferrari. Thus, he fancied the option of seeing the seven-time world champion as a replaceable entity.
However, then Ferrari team principal Jean Todt and Technical director Ross Brawn heavily favoured Schumacher. Thus, a huge delay was caused, and Raikkonen’s agent David Roberston started seeking other options for the sake of his client’s better prospects.
Also read: When Ferrari ordered Charles Leclerc never to joke again
$21 Million offer which Kimi Raikkonen could refuse
According to BusinessF1, Roberston approached Renault’s boss Flavio Briatore to take Räikkönen to Renault. The French team badly wanted a driver with a talent like Raikkonen.
Therefore, an offer of $21 Million was made to the Iceman. Further, he also received an option to accept outside endorsements, which could have been worth another US$10 million.
Though the deal wasn’t as enticing as it was with McLaren, Ferrari was willing to give. Still, it was something with which Raikkonen could have seen himself having no problem.
Kimi Raikkonen’s drive at the 2006 Bahrain GP is probably his most underrated drive (along with Singapore 2013).
A rear suspension failure during quali left him P22 on the grid for the race. But what followed was a Kimi masterclass 💪
He passed 9 cars on the first lap… pic.twitter.com/r7xXnN24kD
— Blitz (@Blitz211846103) March 12, 2022
But, as the events followed, Raikkonen joined Ferrari after Schumacher’s retirement became public. On the other hand, Briatore would angrily tell friends that he felt Robertson had been wasting his time and had been committed to Ferrari at the same time as he was offering Raikkonen to Renault.
But according to the source, Robertson genuinely offered Raikkonen to Renault, as he believed Schumacher couldn’t be moved from Ferrari. Surely, the civil war at Ferrari disagreed.
The coldest Michael Schumacher photo?
Schumacher won the race during the German Grand Prix 2006, and his teammate Felipe Massa came in as the runner-up. Meanwhile, Raikkonen took P3.
But Schumacher showed incredible affection for his teammate during the podium celebration and totally snubbed Raikkonen. It was a message to Montezemolo by Schumacher that he wants things as it is in Ferrari.
But on the contrary, the Ferrari boss was unmoved by the gesture. In fact, he was more determined to dislodge the seven-time world champion from the team.
Also read: When Michael Schumacher vetoed Mika Hakkinen’s move to Ferrari
