Pay Kimi

[Koz]

Did Heikki Kovalainen make 'em pay him upfront?

Or is he driving for free?

He's paying them to drive!!

[philipbain]

He's paying them to drive!!

I don't know about that but I don't think he'll be getting much if anything in terms of renumeration. For Heiki it's definitely an opportunity for him to remind the F1 world of just how good he is, I think that in his time at McLaren he was very much the no.2 driver and like all of Hamilton's team mates found Lewis' pace a very difficult thing to live with. As for Caterham, it was a miracle they even got on the grid in 2010 but the very short lead time did result in a car with the aerodynamic finesse of a house brick, and even going forward with Renault power and a new chassis in 2011 the Caterham was always going to be a very difficult platform from which to show your capabilities as a competitive F1 driver. I wish Heiki all the best in Austin & Sao Paulo, he's a capable drive who shouldn't be in the sidelines, the fact he is just shows you how badly the sport is currently being run (ie. CVC Capital Partners taking £600m a year out of the sport!)

[journeyman racer]

Where's the union representative??? It really is a disgrace that Lotus have treated him this way. He's carried the team.

[jens]

Lotus - Pay your driver per the contract you made with him.

Lotus sucks - as an employer.

Yeah, the problem is how can you pay if you don't have anything to pay with. Maybe Genii Capital should take one more loan to pay Kimi's salary. I mean it has seemed they have already taken quite a few loans to fund the team. And now they are arguably in deep debts...

[rjbetty]

Lotus - Pay your driver per the contract you made with him.

Lotus sucks - as an employer.

Yeah, the problem is how can you pay if you don't have anything to pay with. Maybe Genii Capital should take one more loan to pay Kimi's salary. I mean it has seemed they have already taken quite a few loans to fund the team. And now they are arguably in deep debts...

Jens I SO agree. I can only think people are reacting like this as they don't understand what it is to be in SERIOUS financial difficulty, to the point there has been a real danger of closing down.

Pay Kimi with WHAT?!

Personally I have lost a lot of respect for Kimi. Has Romain been paid? Neither has Hulkenberg. But these younger drivers have conducted themselves admirably and with understanding.

[555-04Q2]

It doesn't matter if they have money or not. They signed an agreement with Kimi and they need to stick to it. Poor planning/foresight is the fault of the team management, not the driver(s) and staff. I'm not the worlds biggest Kimi fan, but they need to stick to their agreement.

[AndyL]

According to Mansoor Ijaz when interviewed on TV at the weekend, the Quantum/Lotus tie-up is a done deal and Eric Boullier will have cash in his hands within a week. So they should be able to pay Kimi soon

[jens]

It doesn't matter if they have money or not.

Actually it does matter, because if you don't have money, you physically can't pay anything. Basic logic.

It is down to the management, but only they know, what have they done to get into such situation. From business point of view I guess they (Genii Capital) have taken quite a lot of risks to get there, because as we see Lotus F1 is a very competitive team right now. But it could have been a Pyrrhic victory - the price of getting up there is too high and now they have to concede defeat and fall away. Reminds me Leeds United from Premiership more than a decade ago, who for a while was very competitive and then drastically dropped off. This is what happens with risky business plans - it is all or nothing.

[555-04Q2]

It doesn't matter if they have money or not.

Actually it does matter, because if you don't have money, you physically can't pay anything. Basic logic.

I am willing to bet they have paid other staff and their suppliers. Hell they have to pay air fares and hotels for each race. They could pay him something at least, they just choose not to

[Mia 01]

They are loosing third and perhaps they even could got second in the WCC with Kimi onboard. The difference moore than cover what they owe Kimi i think. But i guess that here are a few holes to put the price money in other than Kimis pockets.