Kimi Raikkonen failed to show up at Spa today because of illness, according to Lotus. However, the team insists that he will be present on Friday.
His absence has led to speculation that Kimi doesn’t want to face a barrage of media questioning about his future – but that doesn’t make a lot of sense given that he has other media sessions scheduled on Friday and later in the weekend.
If his absence is indeed out of choice rather than necessity then perhaps a more plausible explanation is that he is in effect on strike, given that as was the case last year the team is believed to be behind on salary payments.
While missing Friday or any other track running will clearly harm his title campaign Raikkonen may well believe that he can skip Thursday without too much trouble, and in doing so cause some embarrassment to the team.
On Thursdays F1 drivers always have a packed schedule of media commitments, team briefings, and a track walk with their engineers – although Raikkonen opts out of the latter.
Meanwhile his future remains up in the air. Although he can clearly stay at Lotus he has to be convinced that the team will have a competitive package in 2014, and that the funds will be in place to properly recompense him.
His management told the media earlier this week that any negotiations with Red Bull had ceased, but he is still potentially of interest to other teams, and a return to Ferrari is not out of the question, despite the acrimonious split at the end of 2009.
Adam Cooper F1 
For sure, it’s a sign, y’know.
Probably an earache–from hearing things he doesn’t like. 🙂
Getting paid millions by your employer to do nothing is acrimonious ? I think most people would be ok with that!