While Kimi Raikkonen's departure from the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix was slightly dodgy, the good news is that he may have reason to stay and finish the season according to a story at AUTOSPORT. Apparently Quantum Motorsports has done their part of the deal with Lotus F1 and it is up to Lotus F1's owner, Gerard Lopez of Genii Capital, to ink the deal. Head of Quantum, Mansoor Ijaz, said:
"I will even go out as far as to say that it has now been completed from our side in terms of what has to be done."
That's not all that was said:
"We have apologised to Kimi," he said. "We intend to not only make sure that they are made whole, and then some, but we are intending also to compensate our employees and management team for having taken it on the chin from you guys [the media] in recent weeks."
So it seems that if Lopez signs the deal, Quantum will own 35% of the team with options for a complete buyout in the future. It also could signify that Nico Hulkenberg may have a reason to get excited about 2014 as the German has been linked to the team should the Quantum deal go through. The fall-back position was an option for Pastor Maldonado and his PDVSA backing but that may not be necessary now.
Raikkonen may have not been paid, and that's certainly not a good deal no matter how you look at it, but we are not privy to the complete wording of his contract. Perhaps pay was to be distributed at the end of the season when Formula One Management money was received or something completely different.
Whatever it is, there is also the issue of employees and pay. Some F1 fans have argued that the engineers, mechanics and staff all need their paychecks to survive and Kimi isn't in that sort of situation so demanding to be paid before the rest of the rank and file and threatening to not show up for a race over pay is a bit dodgy.
Regardless, Kimi fans have taken to social media to lambast the team for not paying the Fin and it seems to be putting even more pressure on an otherwise difficult situation. If the Quantum deal is truly done, then perhaps the team can pay its employees (including Kimi) and hire Hulkenberg for a better 2014.