FORMULA ONE MONTE CARLO GRAND PRIXLOTUS HAVE ruled out Kimi Raikkonen mixing Formula One and rallying after speculation he could enter Rally Finland later this year. The former Renault team lost Polish driver Robert Kubica to life-threatening injuries last year and principal Eric Boullier made clear yesterday Raikkonen could not be put at risk.
“Contractually he cannot do it. End of story,” he said. “Obviously there is a trauma here after 2011. But we can’t allow any contract with the drivers . . . it’s supposed to have a clause where they cannot take any risk because they are so valuable for the team. Rally, skiing, jumping is not allowed.”
Kubica, who was Renault’s number one driver, suffered severe leg and hand injuries when he crashed in a minor rally in Italy in February 2011 and hasn’t raced since.
Former Ferrari driver Raikkonen returned to Formula One this year with Lotus after two years competing in the world rally championship with Citroen.
McLaren’s Jenson Button, meanwhile, set the pace in practice yesterday for the Monaco Grand Prix after morning sunshine gave way to afternoon showers.
Button, a winner around the treacherous metal-ringed street circuit in his 2009 title season with Brawn GP, skimmed the barriers and roared past the luxury yachts bobbing in the harbour with a fastest time of one minute 15.746 seconds on super-soft tyres.
Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso also showed his Monaco mastery with a pace-setting 1:16.265 in a morning session cut short in a cloud of smoke when Heikki Kovalainen’s Caterham blew its engine.
The Spaniard was fourth in the afternoon. Romain Grosjean clocked up the second-fastest time in both sessions.
Ferrari’s Brazilian Felipe Massa was an encouraging third in the second session. Mexican Sergio Perez,was third in the morning for Sauber with race favourite Lewis Hamilton fourth for McLaren.
