F1 News
Date: 19/September/2013
Kimi Raikkonen has revealed that money, or rather a lack of
it, was behind his decision to leave Lotus and re-join Ferrari at the end of
this season.
The Finn, 33, won the 2007 World Championship for Ferrari
but walked away from grand prix at the end of the following year, having been replaced
by Fernando Alonso.
Raikkonen then returned to F1 with Lotus at the start of
last season, proving he has lost none of his talent by claiming 13 podiums in
black and gold, including two race wins.
Lotus were eager to retain their star driver - and received
a boost when Red Bull overlooked the 20-time grand prix winner in favour of Daniel
Ricciardo - but Ferrari recently announced a two-year deal to put Raikkonen in
place of Felipe Massa.
Even Raikkonen admitted that a return to Ferrari seemed
unlikely just a few months ago.
“Things change in Formula One a lot,” said Raikkonen,
speaking ahead of this weekend’s Singapore night race. “I never had a bad
feeling with them [Ferrari] really. I still have a lot friends and good
memories from there. I knew that my contract will end at the end of this year
so obviously I had to make some kind of decision for next year and now it’s
been done.”
Raikkonen appeared to confirm rumours that he is owed money
by Lotus and named money issues the main factor behind his move to Ferrari.
However the ‘Ice Man’ wants to help Lotus as much as possible and has never
contemplated refusing to race.
“I like to race - that’s the only reason why I’m here… the
reasons why I left the team is purely on the money side, that they haven’t got
my salary so it’s an unfortunate thing,” said Raikkonen. “But I want to try and
help the team as much as I can and I like to race.”
On his forthcoming partnership with Alonso, Raikkonen played
down the chances of any fireworks.
“I don’t see the reason why it wouldn’t work. We are all old
enough to know what we are doing and for sure the team is working for the right
things to make sure. If there is something, I’m sure we can talk it through.
“It’s not like we are 20-year old guys any more. I might be
wrong, but time will tell, but I’m pretty sure everything will be good. For
sure there will be hard fights on the race circuits but sometimes things go
wrong... like I said, I’m pretty sure it will all be OK.”
Raikkonen is fourth in the World Championship with seven
rounds to go. Lotus are yet to announce his 2014 replacement.
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