Kimi Raikkonen rejected move to Toyota in 2009 after F1 team failed to match his $45 million salary

Kimi Raikkonen turned down an offer from the Toyota F1 team because he wanted to drive a race-winning car and the team couldn’t match Finn’s salary expectations.

In 2007, Kimi Raikkonen joined Scuderia Ferrari on a three-year contract.

The Finn made a switch from McLaren and replaced retiring 7-time world champion Michael Schumacher.

Kimi was fast and had shown great pace while he was racing for McLaren. And Ferrari wanted to acquire the services offered to him with an annual salary of 45 million dollars. This made him the second highest paid athlete in the world at the time.

In his first race for Ferrari at the 2007 Australian GP, Kimi took pole position, set the fastest lap and won the race. He would go on to win the title by a single point ahead of the McLaren duo of Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso.

However, in 2008 and 2009 he did not enjoy a fruitful season. He finished third and sixth in the standings respectively and fell out of favor with the Italian team.

Before the 2009 season, Ferrari announced that the Finn would leave the team. Kimi had a contract to compete with the team until 2010.

He would be replaced by Fernando Alonso.

https://twitter.com/SargeantSZN/status/1451066765811855362

Kimi received offers from McLaren to partner Lewis Hamilton. But the deal was called off and the team moved on with fellow Brit and 2009 world champion Jenson Button.

While new entrants, Mercedes also showed interest. But eventually they signed Michael Schumacher and Nico Rosberg. And this left Toyota as the only possible option for the Finn to continue competing in F1.

Why Kimi Raikkonen rejected Toyota

At the end of the 2009 season, Kimi Raikkonen was left without a seat in F1. The 2007 world champion received multiple offers, but all fell through.

Toyota has offered Kimi Raikkonen a seat for next season. The team wanted to replace Timo Glock but was unable to make a satisfactory offer for Kimi.

But the team was facing serious financial problems. Kimi turned down the offer because it was too low compared to what he was earning at Ferrari. Toyota president John Howett later confirmed that the Japanese team was unwilling to increase their offer for him.

Howett had previously said: “We don’t play too many games. We put on the table what we can afford and what we think is a serious offer in today’s market.”

A random F1 fact:

McLaren were so impressed by Kimi's performances during the 2009 F1 season (especially since Hungary) that they wanted to sign him for 2010. Martin Whitmarsh, who is a big Kimi fan, had made up his mind, but the deal fell apart at the last moment sadly 😔 pic.twitter.com/n0ZN7A0zoU

— Blitz (@Blitz211846103) August 11, 2022

Kimi would take a year off from F1. The Finn would leave F1 for 2 years and switch to rallying and NASCAR. He would return to the grid with Lotus in 2012.

Kimi later revealed that Ferrari offered him $10 million if he secured a seat at another team for 2010. And $17 million if he had to miss the season. Ultimately, Kimi decided to opt for Rallying and take home the extra money.

He also claimed that he turned down Toyota because he wanted to drive race-winning cars. However, Toyota withdrew from F1 at the end of the 2009 season after serious financial losses. Looks like Kimi made a wise decision!