When Kimi Raikkonen almost made an F1 Team broke

Kimi Raikkonen is one of the most popular drivers to ever race in F1. Winning a world championship, and proving at multiple teams why he was one of the very best on the grid. Kimi Raikkonen's F1 return in 2012 was welcomed by F1 fans, and his new challenge at Lotus was under way. With this, Kimi had an added bonus in his contract, earning €50,000 for every point he scored. Kimi managed to score 390 points, meaning Lotus were left with a bonus bill of €19,500,000 owed to Kimi Raikkonen. This is how Lotus F1 Team fell into financial disarray, and were even featured on a UK debt collector TV show. Enjoy!
#F1 #KimiRaikkonen
_____________________________________________________
My Socials :
Twitter - madebypers
Instagram - madebyperspective
_____________________________________________________
Credits:
Lotus F1 Team
Formula 1
Channel 5 / Can't Pay? We'll Take it away
Morio (Kimi, Lotus on track photos)
Caterham F1 Team
Lotus Roma
MyLotusRacing
The Bearded Explorer :
/ @thebeardedexplorer
Tigershoot (Lotus F1 testing)
Ferrari
Groupe Renault

[@volatilepz]

I think we're missing the most important bit of this whole saga: Raikkonen decided not to collect the debt he was owed to save the jobs of the employees.

[@KristianDabeski]

I think he earned 100 million + in his career so he is good for life...

[@theelf152]

@@KristianDabeski Kimi earned more than that just from Ferrari 2007-2009. His net worth is somewhere around USD 250m

[@aventusV33]

Here we go 😂 name a better pairing than the winter break and Kimi's Lotus story

[@dazeen9591]

That's one heck of an early winter break

[@petel7418]

This was funny.. 😂 When he won Australia '13, first race of the season, must've been a bit mixed feelings in Lotus management. 😄 'Wtf we won..!! 😮 ..and btw owe the driver $1,25mil in bonuses only after the first race.. 🥶' 🤣🤣

[@ragnar400o]

Oh come on, the season only ended a few days ago. It's a bit early for the 'Kimi bankrupted Lotus' content 😂

[@MadeByPerspective]

Bwoah

[@owenoneil951]

This is probably one of the best “Kimi bankrupt lotus” though

[@chrisjones5411]

@@MadeByPerspectiveHAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHAA HAHAHA HA A HFSDHJOSDFG;HLOJSDFHGJASLDF;GKJASLFKAWHJFL;ASKJFDGHNAL;SFGJKNASFDG;LJ KN HE SAID THE THING HASHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

[@marvinblackheart623]

I watched a documentary about executers who take over property which couldn't be provided anymore. All of a sudden i saw how these executers going to Lotus F1 Team which i still don't believe that i was watching this.

[@crystalracing4794]

Kimi skipped F2 (F3000) and F3. That's how insanely talented he really was.

[@RadityaPramanaPutra2001]

If I right, Formula Renault at the time is on same level with Formula 4 in current era.

[@aizyamran]

Same as Michael Schumacher jump instantly to F1 with Bennetton

[@mxsthxted]

No one will ever be like kimi again

[@reptongeek]

@aizyamran Michael did have experience in Sports Cars though. Kimi on the other hand had only competed in 24 or so car races before his first F1 start, which I believe is an achievement that will never be bettered

[@jax4113]

Not really, Michael drove for Mercedes's sportscar programme. That's a higher level than Formula Renault 2.0 UK@@aizyamran

[@NavF1]

Time for the "Kimi bankrupting Lotus", "Rosberg vs LH", and "Alonso 2012" off-season video spams 😂😂

[@natazeze]

its time to dont write idiotic comments

[@aaronarmstrong9776]

They might add the last race in the '21 championship now

[@jamsbong]

Kimi done so well with lotus first season. He scored points on every single race except for China where he ran out of tires.

[@kurvin2719]

My uncle told me about this, Kimi was his favourite driver and I love hearing this story over and over again

[@DonLee1980]

helping the team score 390 points over 2 years, and was owed 19.5 million? that's a no brainer good deal for the team. I mean, how much more prize money did Kimi bring to the team?

[@F1Fanatic76]

I think it was more bad management that hurt the team than Kimi.

[@theelf152]

Exactly!. If you takeaway 100pts which an average driver would have scored each year. They probably finish 7th. The diff between 7th and 4th must be at least €30m+ each year. So it’s a no brainer how much money Kimi made the team! what sank the team is bad (read crooked) management. Genii capitals main shareholder was Lotus part owner Gerard Lopez. He treated his share in Lotus like a loan and offset that against sponsorship from Genii. Genii got all the advertising -He drew out his “loan” and eventually sold his stake in Genii whilst Lotus went bankrupt.

[@sdx3918]

Was this the first time where a team went broke because of being too fast? Usually it's the opposite..

[@user-kj9iy7fk5i]

haas is a good example of thats not really the case in modern f1 anymore

[@pavise6333]

Suffering from success

[@theelf152]

Had Nothing to do with Success & Everything to do with Bad (crooked) Management. Gerard Lopez & (less so Eric Lux) who were main owners was main shareholders in Genii Capital - Lotus main sponsors. Genii offset their “share” in the team with Sponsorship for Genii call it “creative accounting”. Genii got all the advertising effectively for free- then sold-call it offset their stake against sponsor funding and Lotus went flop. A year later Gerard Lopez sold his share in Genii when its share price went up because of the global exposure it got from Kimi putting it on the podium every race!!!.

[@andrewbrinkworth1420]

I have heard this story a thousand times and love it every time

[@ciaronsmith4995]

People need to stop spinning this as if Kimi "hurt the team". If Lotus were clueless as to the calibre of driver they signed, that's their fault. Kimi did his job. Brilliantly. Arguably F1's finest driver in late 2012 and early 2013. Lotus failed to do their job.

[@Q.A.D.D.]

I don't think anyone is blaming Kimi here. It is Lotus who accepted these terms, so it was their fault for underestimating the performance of their car and Kimi's skills.

[@TANGYHATCHY]

Kimi would’ve won the championship in 2012 with Ferrari

[@theelf152]

@@Q.A.D.D.It had nothing to do with “underestimating” or “Kimi” BUT Everything to do with cunning (read shifty) management by Genii capital and creative accounting !!!. Gerard Lopez (&Eric Lux) owned Lotus AND were main shareholders in Genii capital who were Title Sponsors. Lopez treated his share as a loan and repaid that loan from Genii sponsorship and left all the suppliers high and dry!.. Lotus never had sufficient funding to begin with- it was always paying back the “owners” from GENII sponsorship funds - which they were shareholders in. If you take half the points Kimi scored (above an average driver) Lotus finishes 7th or worse. The Prizemoney and F1 share in profits between 7th & 4th is at least €30+ each year!. Lopez sold his stake in Genii about a year later after its share price went up due to its global exposure- NOTE :-KIMI SCORED 28 CONSECUTIVE POINTS FINISHES and more podiums than anyone other than RB at that time. a record which stood till Mercs domination.

[@laterreta9734]

​@@TANGYHATCHYLmao. If he didn't do it with the 3rd car he wouldn't have done it with the 4th car.

[@theelf152]

Also its ridiculous how people count what his pay should be but they don't count the Prizemoney/ Share of earnings Lotus actually received from F1 as a result of him helping them achieve 4th place. The difference between 4th &7th is something like 30million eur over 2 years or about 60m To me that sounds like he was worth every penny and then some...What owners of Lotus did with all the money at that time...well thats another story...

[@sophisticateddenial6510]

Bwoah, he was a businessman doing business 😎

[@Tracertme]

This was a great period with Kimi in the team…..❤

[@Loose89]

One thing to note with their best result at Spa in 2015, Mercedes remotely changed Grosjeans PU mode to a setting which wasn't accessible to the non-factory teams to put pressure on Vettel in the race. They weren't ever that competitive before or after that race. Probably something to do a video on down the road at some point.

[@yudhabagaskara98]

bwoah i think his back pain is well-timed though

[@chsinger96]

Is the audio much quieter than usual in this video or am I tripping?🤨

[@AndyFromBeaverton]

It hurts my eyes to look at the era of the ugliest rear wings in the history of the sport.

[@MadeByPerspective]

Yeah they were pretty awful 😅

[@zinddy]

I actualy kinda like the skinny era cars, but they wont beat the grooved era

[@kapurants]

I think the current ones are thr ugliest tbh

[@jussieronen3707]

Honestly I always hated the skinny rear wing and chonky frontwing look, which got even worse with the brick nose. But then again, they were nothing compared to the abominations of 2014 and generally 2009-2013 was one of the better eras in Formula 1.

[@zinddy]

@@jussieronen3707 maybe the sound adds a bit to my oppinion, and also when i was a kid we went to austria and visited red bull hangar, amd i bought red bull rb7 toy car

[@sakhesengwayo]

Lotus is a great team. I miss it on the grid.

[@DrElhan]

I swear the word Lotus is spiraling through my brain after the first 2 minutes of this video

[@douweanne]

Such a cool f1 story

[@MicrophoneAssassin13]

Everyone complaining about F1 off season content still watching this, jonesing for a fix.

[@fillusrahim-xy9ib]

A bit of history is refreshing 👍

[@Timcatgt]

Usually it's the driver who dreams about driving for the team, but this time it's the opposite. I wouldn't refuse a points bonus if it meant that the car would exceed their expectations.

[@Ahito1984]

You know, Piquet got the same deal : $50000 in 1990 for each point. He scored 44 points... Not bad for a has been! Following year, Schumacher would arrive in Spa...

[@Ahito1984]

How about the man worth $1 million a race in 1993? Ron Dennis outdid himself there, almost to sacrify '94 car development!

[@tourmaline07]

I'm wondering if Max Verstappen might try and negotiate a similar pay per points deal with Red Bull , given this season's dominance 😂 Just think he'd make €28.75m this season alone and €24.2m last year out of it , I'm sure Red Bull can afford that 😂

[@maruv6]

Redbull would absolutely love that deal lol as he currently makes 50+ mil a year

[@tourmaline07]

@@maruv6 Still thought he was on €30m per year - maybe we could go to €100k per point in his case ;)?

[@kevinjones7870]

While I understand Kimi wanting to get out of Lotus due to not being paid the bonus he was offered, going back to Ferrari was the worst thing he could have done as he was just a shadow of his former self over those following seasons as a Ferrari driver

[@unthenner5519]

That's just the Alonso effect I'm afraid. Driver performances are all relative.

[@ilkkak3065]

If you leave out 2014 when Ferrari was made for Alonso, He avarage 200 points per season on Ferrari

[@kevinjones7870]

@@ilkkak3065 No, he averaged less than 200 points, also for the two seasons he was in Lotus he won 2 races, with 2014-2018 run in Ferrari he only got one win so he was arguably far more competitive in Lotus than his second Ferrari stint

[@ilkkak3065]

@@kevinjones7870 yeah 198 points per season 2015-2018 best 251 points 2018.

[@klockenberg2299]

​@@ilkkak3065251 in a season Hamilton with comparable car scored 408

[@Steveaid06]

Kimi alonso Schumacher>>>

[@RadityaPramanaPutra2001]

Actually Lotus is a very, very great team's name. Very full of history, but on this case, that's completely Lotus F1 Team's fault. Indeed, we probably not expected Kimi will be 3rd best in the 2012 season Drivers World Championship Final Standings, but that way just bankrupting the team itself. Literally, Kimi *NOT* bankrupting Lotus. Lotus bankrupting itself. 30/11/2023 01:50 At My Local Time.

[@paulboyce8537]

The big issue was that Kimi was not paid and 2014 rule change. 2013 summer break when it was clear Kimi was going to Ferrari broke the team. Instead of having a equal support in the team they tried to make Romain look better than Kimi giving 100% support to Romain and sabotage Kimi in every way they can (Quantum sponsor 130 million to replace Genii) for possible new sponsor. Even with visibly lot slower car Kimi was beating Romain. Last straw Kimi took the last races to get some medical leave. Last race driven and breaking the front suspension was just a last f*** you to the team that had gone from a great place to be to be treated like a vermin. Renault (ex Lotus) I believe had a plan to get Kimi back for 2019 season. But the death of Ferrari CEO changed this and they panicked (30 million for Ricciardo). For Kimi there was another option (Sauber Alfa Romeo) but this meant he was still under Ferrari manipulated seat where his talents were never realized. 2026 I think could be Kimi's come back on AUDI. 2 year contract to me would make sense. He might not be in his prime anymore nor a race winner but his knowledge could pave the way to greatness for AUDI plus he most likely would always be there in the points. Would something like this happen? Money I think has a big influence and what will happen in the world. Also if you would have Bottas as the other driver would make things very interesting. But I'm sure German team would be looking for German driver like Hulkenberg or who knows even Rosberg. None of these are winners but all are drivers that you can trust to get the team forward. Of course this is only speculation not to be taken too serious.

[@stelioskostaras9717]

Any Kimi related content is a click,like and comment automaticaly

[@matixok1167]

They still owe him money btw

[@Elaba_]

Leave him alone.

[@RadityaPramanaPutra2001]

Because he's know what he's doing.

[@gandalf_thegrey]

*bwoah*

[@window469wow3]

hi

[@attilabekefi7539]

Boullier went to ruin McLaren...

[@arthurteo8111]

Never liked him.

[@breeze2375]

He doesn’t care

[@alferrari3186]

U made a whole video without telling us anything about wat the title says. Its like u didn't wanted to do this video