I'm sure the payment troubles are real but I believe and actually am sure Kimi will continue with Lotus, he has signed contract, he wants to be with them, he owned his victory for them...he aint gonna leave them because he hasnt got all the money they owe him, he will stay with them and get paid when they can pay (freely or in court)

I've been hoping all along that the rumours will just vanish into thin air. Either someone is deliberately stirring them up or then there really is some truth behind it all

No need to thank for the translations

I'm moving so quickly from forum to forum that it's been impossible to post them continuously, however Jinx has been of a huge help ever since last week so hopefully they can now be in one place where those interested in them can read them

In this article, on a french website, they say that the new sponsor might be Honeywell Group. Lotus are against Williams and McLaren for this contract.

Having announced at the beginning of the year the arrival of the group Unilever against 10 million euro annual, the credibility of Lotus F1 Team is assured(insured) from now on by Kimi Raikkonen and the season 2012. To the point that the English team is in competition(competitors) to seduce the Honeywell Group company against William and McLaren. The American company(society), operating in the aeronautics, the chemistry, the systems of transport, automation and the technology of control realizes a figure of 30 billion euro affair(business) a year approximately. The discussions with this company(society) hide a main partnership at the level of 30 million euro approximately.

I'm sure the payment troubles are real but I believe and actually am sure Kimi will continue with Lotus, he has signed contract, he wants to be with them, he owned his victory for them...he aint gonna leave them because he hasnt got all the money they owe him, he will stay with them and get paid when they can pay (freely or in court)

This. I don't think he would fret over the payment of his salary too much as long as he is convinced the team can produce good cars and have money for it. Given the kind of season Lotus has, they would have no problem with sponsors. It would all be fine.

I also find it very confusing. There is this continuous rum rum saying he asked in other teams (there was something in Blick too not too long ago) but... We don't know if the rumoured Lotus problems to pay the salaries have any truth in them. If it really were the case, we would not know if it happened before or after the seats in the top teams were filled. And, then, if there was a seat in a top team, would Räikkönen want to take it?

Well, there are lots of uncertainities around Lotus. Genii doesn't commit in long term, investors and sponsors are searched. I guess Kimi knows what he wants, but also needs to know his options in case things go wrong.

Question: "do You plan to keep the team in Formula 1?"Gerard Lopez: "Yes, we would like to preserve it, but it needs new partners. This work is now in progress, but if it is not successful, then you need to look at the situation through the eyes of a businessman and ask yourself - this is us is still interested"

For me his answer sounds as they have serious thoughts about leaving F1

Here's the original (German) article, a very good read which gives insight how F1 can work for a business company. Perhaps also shows that Bernie is doing some things right with the expansion in non-traditional F1 countries, selling it as a huge event and thus making the sport interesting for the big business (and money) in difficult times.

Question: "do You plan to keep the team in Formula 1?"Gerard Lopez: "Yes, we would like to preserve it, but it needs new partners. This work is now in progress, but if it is not successful, then you need to look at the situation through the eyes of a businessman and ask yourself - this is us is still interested"

For me his answer sounds as they have serious thoughts about leaving F1

It's a bad translation from the original article. He's not talking about the team, he's talking about Genii. He actually says that staying in F1 makes sense as long as the counts add up, that they do add up at the moment, but if they didn't any more, they (Genii) would have to think as businessmen and leave.

Businessmen lie a lot, it's part of their job, but the German version sounds way better than the English one (and López speaks very good German).

Here's the original (German) article, a very good read which gives insight how F1 can work for a business company. Perhaps also shows that Bernie is doing some things right with the expansion in non-traditional F1 countries, selling it as a huge event and thus making the sport interesting for the big business (and money) in difficult times.

It's a bad translation from the original article. He's not talking about the team, he's talking about Genii. He actually says that staying in F1 makes sense as long as the counts add up, that they do add up at the moment, but if they didn't any more, they (Genii) would have to think as businessmen and leave.

Businessmen lie a lot, it's part of their job, but the German version sounds way better than the English one (and López speaks very good German).

Thanks for the German one - do not speak German but my Swedish/Finnish translation gave an other touch on it But I still think it's a bit worrying - partly just because businessmen lie a lot I really hope I'm just too anxious, I would love to follow Lotus and Kimi on they way to a championship.So hope the lying businessmen can do they job and lie successfully, so they get some sponsormoney for the team!

Amus is very respected and they are usually more right then wrong. But sometimes not all of the rumours are true, Amus also kept on persisting with the story that Kimi had an investment with the team and that he was seeking shares from Williams. They might get some rumours but they might not be getting the full picture.
With the absence of Lopez of late, and the other rumours surrounding Genii there could very well be something going on. But at the same time there is also strong rumours that Lotus will be getting 3 new sponsors. I wonder if the problems they are experiencing could perhaps have something to do with a transitional issue. It could be an issue of Genii wanting out right now, while the new sponsors might only be there from next year, that could mean a bit of a shortfall for Lotus in between while they are suppose to be working hard on the car for next year.

Amus is very respected and they are usually more right then wrong. But sometimes not all of the rumours are true, Amus also kept on persisting with the story that Kimi had an investment with the team and that he was seeking shares from Williams. They might get some rumours but they might not be getting the full picture. With the absence of Lopez of late, and the other rumours surrounding Genii there could very well be something going on. But at the same time there is also strong rumours that Lotus will be getting 3 new sponsors. I wonder if the problems they are experiencing could perhaps have something to do with a transitional issue. It could be an issue of Genii wanting out right now, while the new sponsors might only be there from next year, that could mean a bit of a shortfall for Lotus in between while they are suppose to be working hard on the car for next year.

yeah, didn't Saward say there was even up to 3 new sponsors in talks with Lotus and that they may announce a major sponsor at Austin? It came and went and we didn't hear anything so I am more worried than just wait and see. Now I feel as if it was right to attend as many GPs as possible bcos I never know how long more Kimi will drive in F1.

On the other hand, every team from the 4th best team have financial troubles. I dun understand why Bernie is not trying to restructure the series - for all he knows, the series would crumble if every team from 4th would be dropping out of the series and then, there will only be 6 cars on the grid

I was thinking more and more about the big sponsor withdrawing and I came up with Total as the biggest suspect For one, their ROI on Groggy hasn't panned out I guess. When I was in Singapore, Groggy's face was plastered all over Singpore and on taxi cabs etc. But every taxi I got into were laughing at Groggy! And they all said, Total sponsoring the wrong Lotus driver!

This has got me thinking deeper about not renewing Groggy's contract yet... he has the FIA cloud hanging over him and his damage bills to Lotus have been tremendous when compared to Kimi's (who probably broke a front wing or two at the most). I suspect Total are not interested in Kimi bcos Finland is such a small nation. Clearly they think Kimi's international popularity isn't "good" enough...

He says:- That he hadn't spoken much with Kimi until they flew from Korea to Japan together and took couple of beers and Kimi opened up for Jenson, Kimi is a really great guy.- he deserved his Abu Dhabi win and Jenson has said all season Kimi will win a race.- Kimi is a true racer and he came back because he loves racing.

"It was Nico Rosberg who did the outing. We had been talking about his father, Keke, who lifted the 1982 Formula One word championship in 1982, despite winning only one race. Rosberg junior, recalling the Flying Finn's win in Dallas in 1984, said: "It was 40 degrees and while the other drivers wore refrigerated suits, Dad was bare-chested in the sun, smoking a cigarette."

Old fashioned expressions were exchanged but no one smoked in the paddock these days. Surely there had not been a smoker in the sport since Jan Magnussen in the late 1990s. "No, you're wrong," said Rosberg. "There's one driver who lights one cigarette after another. I'm not naming names."

But who could this be? This is F1 2012 and today's drivers look like toothpicks in overalls. They have never been this fit. We spend as much time talking to Jenson Button about his triathlons as we do discussing his racing. Surely no one in F1 actually smokes? And then someone mentioned the name of Kimi Raikkonen, the party animal, and everyone started sniggering. "Yes, that's it, it must be Kimi!"

This, of course, may have been an awful slander. Raikkonen may not smoke at all. But, somehow, the notion fitted. Because the Finn is the throwback driver in the paddock."

"Raikkonen, unlike Michael Schumacher, is the world champion who proved it was possible to come back."

"And if does smoke, everyone will turn a blind eye. When you are as good as he is you can get away with almost anything."

"It was Nico Rosberg who did the outing. We had been talking about his father, Keke, who lifted the 1982 Formula One word championship in 1982, despite winning only one race. Rosberg junior, recalling the Flying Finn's win in Dallas in 1984, said: "It was 40 degrees and while the other drivers wore refrigerated suits, Dad was bare-chested in the sun, smoking a cigarette."

Old fashioned expressions were exchanged but no one smoked in the paddock these days. Surely there had not been a smoker in the sport since Jan Magnussen in the late 1990s. "No, you're wrong," said Rosberg. "There's one driver who lights one cigarette after another. I'm not naming names."

But who could this be? This is F1 2012 and today's drivers look like toothpicks in overalls. They have never been this fit. We spend as much time talking to Jenson Button about his triathlons as we do discussing his racing. Surely no one in F1 actually smokes? And then someone mentioned the name of Kimi Raikkonen, the party animal, and everyone started sniggering. "Yes, that's it, it must be Kimi!"

This, of course, may have been an awful slander. Raikkonen may not smoke at all. But, somehow, the notion fitted. Because the Finn is the throwback driver in the paddock."

"Raikkonen, unlike Michael Schumacher, is the world champion who proved it was possible to come back."

"And if does smoke, everyone will turn a blind eye. When you are as good as he is you can get away with almost anything."

Raikkonen half-joked recently that if he could not win the championship then he would rather finish fourth overall so he could avoid going to Istanbul's festivities where the top three drivers are presented with their trophies.

But with Raikkonen holding a 16-point advantage over Lewis Hamilton, and McLaren currently on strong form, Lotus boss Eric Boullier says there is no question of it giving up on the place.

"We will definitely do everything for Kimi to have to fly to Istanbul," Boullier told AUTOSPORT.

Boullier seems a bit like the man holding the gun and ordering kimi to run to monaco in MAKIA ad.

Mustakari has been a F1-commentator for MTV3 for as long as I can remember, an old-timer. He also writes in a magazine called Urheilulehti, I took his quote from this article: http://www.urheilule...yos-paalaelleen

Mustakari has been a F1-commentator for MTV3 for as long as I can remember, an old-timer. He also writes in a magazine called Urheilulehti, I took his quote from this article: http://www.urheilule...yos-paalaelleen

yup he has been commentator for long time and been and seen almost 400 gp's at present . Sadly his skills as commentator are far from perfect or even good as he seem to miss a lot of formula 1 information that I know and many others should know as well...but at least he gives good laughs for being totally lost sometimes

Better late than never I guess... Boullier's expectations are finally catching up as he is thinking about Kimi retaining 3rd in WDC. They could have have been easily pushing for 3rd spot in WCC as well, had it not been for some of his decisions, and pitifully low expectations for the team. I hope he learned some lessons from this season... I still want to see that stupid steering fixed!

If Räikkönen keeps his position - 16 points ahead of Lewis Hamilton - then Finland will get their third WDC-Bronze and the tenth WC-medal in their whole history.

– If the season would begin right now, then it would be much easier for us to get all things in place. Now we learned during the beginning of the season and it took a while before we got everything to work efficiently. In that sense I believe that next season will be easier as long as we can build a good car again, Räikkönen thinks.

– This season we had a bit problems after the summer break since our car didn't improve enough when compared to a few others. The new exhaust pipe improved the situation and the car has worked better and better due to that, since we have been able to develop it more.

Mustakari has been a F1-commentator for MTV3 for as long as I can remember, an old-timer. He also writes in a magazine called Urheilulehti, I took his quote from this article: http://www.urheilule...yos-paalaelleen

He's an old man who has seen it all but learnt nothing about F1. The reason he is still working for MTV3 is unknown.

It’s no secret that Lotus’s Kimi Raikkonen isn’t a fan of long-winded media interviews - which is why we thought our quick-fire Inside Line format would be perfect for the Finn. And so it proved, with the 2007 world champion and 2012 Abu Dhabi winner providing brief but enlightening answers. What did we learn? For starters he loves steam, sushi and salmiak…

Q: What keeps you awake at night?Kimi Raikkonen: Nothing keeps me awake. I have the ability to sleep well, wherever I am.

Q: If you could banish one thing from your life - for the rest of your life - what would that be?KR: There is nothing to be banished.

Q: What’s been your most valuable life lesson?KR: Never give up.

Q: What do you admire?KR: Those boys from 1960s and early ‘70s in F1. Drivers made from steel in cars made of wood.

Q: If you could give your younger self some advice what would it be?KR: Never give up.

Q: If your racing career ended this season what would you do with the rest of your life?KR: I have some plans in my mind. I have a life outside racing as well, so it wouldn’t be the end of the world for me. (laughs)

Better late than never I guess... Boullier's expectations are finally catching up as he is thinking about Kimi retaining 3rd in WDC. They could have have been easily pushing for 3rd spot in WCC as well, had it not been for some of his decisions, and pitifully low expectations for the team. I hope he learned some lessons from this season... I still want to see that stupid steering fixed!

There is nothing wrong with the steering! Kimi's just want more sensitive one but there is and have been nothing wrong with Lotus steering wheels.

Boullier and team haave pushed all season for better than 4th, I'm happy ow they have tried to develop the car etc...sadly their device idn't work and it took a chance from Kimi to win WDC, I think they should have tried that system on one car with a risk as 4th in WCC has been almost sure for months now and they took coanda exhaust way too late as hey said already hat they knew before the season started that it was a big improvement. But all in all they have tried their best and constantly bring updates so I'm happy and they would be second in WCC if not for Grosjeans retirements...but that's just ifs and buts.

"It was Nico Rosberg who did the outing. We had been talking about his father, Keke, who lifted the 1982 Formula One word championship in 1982, despite winning only one race. Rosberg junior, recalling the Flying Finn's win in Dallas in 1984, said: "It was 40 degrees and while the other drivers wore refrigerated suits, Dad was bare-chested in the sun, smoking a cigarette."

Old fashioned expressions were exchanged but no one smoked in the paddock these days. Surely there had not been a smoker in the sport since Jan Magnussen in the late 1990s. "No, you're wrong," said Rosberg. "There's one driver who lights one cigarette after another. I'm not naming names."

But who could this be? This is F1 2012 and today's drivers look like toothpicks in overalls. They have never been this fit. We spend as much time talking to Jenson Button about his triathlons as we do discussing his racing. Surely no one in F1 actually smokes? And then someone mentioned the name of Kimi Raikkonen, the party animal, and everyone started sniggering. "Yes, that's it, it must be Kimi!"

This, of course, may have been an awful slander. Raikkonen may not smoke at all. But, somehow, the notion fitted. Because the Finn is the throwback driver in the paddock."

"Raikkonen, unlike Michael Schumacher, is the world champion who proved it was possible to come back."

"And if does smoke, everyone will turn a blind eye. When you are as good as he is you can get away with almost anything."

You're welcome. Took a while for Kimi and Button to have a proper chat (lower in the full article). That said I never ever would have expected it to happen. The two are polar opposites, at least on surface level, but nothing breaks the ice like a bit of alcohol.

He's an old man who has seen it all but learnt nothing about F1. The reason he is still working for MTV3 is unknown.

Yeah, think exactly the same. The reason Mustakari is still hanging there is a big mystery. Maybe they don´t pay him any sallary no more but he still just keep on showing up to the races, with his own expense. Don´t know.

Have any of you read about the rumour that Lotus have trouble paying Kimi his sallary cause he´s got so many points now, and they should pay him big bonus from every point he´s scored.Lotus had estimated before the season that maybe Kimi can score around 100 points, now he´s got 206, and one more race to go......

There was also a rumour that Lotus need 70 million dollars more funding for the next season to survive, and some mechanics have already left Lotus and went to McLaren because of that....?? The rumour was in the finnish paper "Iltasanomat" today.

You're welcome. Took a while for Kimi and Button to have a proper chat (lower in the full article). That said I never ever would have expected it to happen. The two are polar opposites, at least on surface level, but nothing breaks the ice like a bit of alcohol.

I suppose they are different on the surface, but Jenson does have an extremely sharp wit and a "fun" sense of humour so that would probably be something that, along with the alcohol, helped the conversation along, those were nice words from Button, and the handshake in the press pit looked more friendly than cursory, it seems that many, drivers and journo's are warming to the Iceman this time around, and i dare say that the clean hard racing will always encourage respect.

Yeah, think exactly the same. The reason Mustakari is still hanging there is a big mystery. Maybe they don´t pay him any sallary no more but he still just keep on showing up to the races, with his own expense. Don´t know...