How Kimi Raikkonen's Success Nearly Bankrupted Lotus

Kimi Raikkonen's remarkable comeback with Lotus from 2012-2013 was so successful that the team's financial structure nearly collapsed under the weight of his performance bonuses. The 'Iceman' scored 390 points over two seasons, triggering a contract clause that paid him €50,000 per point and ultimately cost the team €19.5 million in bonuses alone.

Why it matters:

This story highlights the high-stakes financial gambles teams take when signing top talent. Performance-based contracts can backfire spectacularly if a driver exceeds expectations, putting immense strain on a team's budget. For Lotus, a midfield team at the time, Raikkonen's brilliance became a double-edged sword—delivering incredible on-track results while threatening the organization's very survival off it.

The details:

• After a two-year hiatus from F1, which included rallying and NASCAR, Raikkonen signed a two-year deal with Lotus-Renault for the 2012 season.
• His adaptation was immediate and stunning. He secured a podium by the fourth race in Bahrain and won the 2012 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.
• Across his Lotus tenure, he amassed 13 podium finishes and two race wins (Abu Dhabi 2012 and Australia 2013).
• Team principal Gérard López had agreed to the lucrative point-bonus structure, reportedly not anticipating such a dominant return from the 2007 World Champion.
• Finnish journalist Heikki Kulta, who first reported the comeback, noted the bonus payments "almost led to bankruptcy" for the Enstone-based squad.

Between the lines:

Raikkonen's time at Lotus also perfectly encapsulated his legendary, blunt personality. In a separate anecdote recounted by Kulta, when asked for his first impression of McLaren's new MP4-19 car in 2004 for a team magazine, Raikkonen responded in Finnish, "It is complete sh*t." The journalist had to creatively translate this for publication, writing that the car "had not been exactly what Kimi had hoped." The car's performance proved his assessment correct, retiring from six of the first seven races that season.

The big picture:

Raikkonen's Lotus chapter is a quintessential F1 tale of unexpected success with unintended consequences. It underscores the complex relationship between sporting performance and financial sustainability, especially for teams operating without the bottomless budgets of the top constructors. The episode remains a cautionary tale about contract design in a sport where driver performance can directly translate to existential financial risk.