Former four-time F1 world champion Alain Prost has warned Kimi Raikkonen of the risks of taking a year off from the sport, as the Finn prepares to leave the F1 grid for 2010 before pushing for a return into the sport in 2011.
Prost was speaking from experience after having taken a year off from the sport in 1992, before joining the Williams team in 1993 and taking his fourth title.
And Prost thinks that Raikkonen needs to take his year off seriously if he is to have any chance of convincing team bosses that he is able to perform for the 2011 season.
"He will try to go rallying, but he is a bit lazy, likes to party and drink a little," Prost slandered at the almost-exciting 'Europe 1 radio', "When you take a year off you have to be extremely serious about it, preparing physically and mentally."
He added that the Finn might have trouble finding a drive because: "he sometimes had difficulty working as a team. Some Ferrari people in particular didn't appreciate his remoteness from the engineers. He is a superb driver, but it may be difficult for him to get the people who are half-way down the middle about him to trust him again in 2011."
Kimi has been rumoured to be close to a drive with the Citroen World Rally Team in 2010, a move that would be part-funded by sponsors Red Bull, and may allow Raikkonen an opportunity to join the RBR F1 team the following season, with either Mark Webber lapsing out of contract or Sebastian Vettel moving to the Mercedes GP team.
But current WRC driver Mikko Hirvonen, who drives for the Ford team, said that it would take time for the F1 man to adjust to the rigours of rallying, and that the 2007 F1 champion would likely not be on the pace from the start.
"Kimi is fast and with driving he doesn't have problems," Hirvonen explained, "But preparing to drive with pace notes is a difficult case for him.
"We WRC drivers have so much more experience, and almost all the rallies will be unknown to Kimi in advance. It's difficult to imagine that Kimi could succeed, at least in his first season."
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