Kimi Raikkonen has admitted that the reason for his decision to leave Lotus at the end of the season is due to money.
The Finn will re-join Ferrari in 2014, replacing Felipe Massa and partnering Fernando Alonso. His future has been hotly discussed in the F1 paddock, with options to stay at Lotus, go to Red Bull or make the switch to Ferrari.
Talks with Red Bull fizzled out and Lotus has continually missed paying the 33-year-old, something that heavily motivated his switch to Ferrari.
The missing payments are no new revelation, but what it has done is influenced Raikkonen's decision to leave, as he admitted in the official FIA driver press conference: "I like to race, that's the only reason why I'm here and it doesn't matter what team it is.
"The reasons why [I haven't been paid] you will have to ask from the team, but the reason why I left the team is purely from the money side - the thing is, I haven't got my salary. It's an unfortunate thing but I want to try to help the team as much as I can."
The blunt statement was typical Kimi and he also commented on recent speculation that pairing him with Alonso could create fireworks.
Felipe Massa and Jenson Button have recently admitted that they think the move could backfire. Button told AFP: "We'll definitely be watching their situation. Ferrari for many years has had two drivers in the team that have been very quick but when it gets to a point in the season, it seems one driver helps the other driver. I don't think that will be the case with Kimi and Fernando - I don't think they'll be trying to help the other driver. A guy that's achieved what they've achieved will not want to be helping out his team-mate."
However, Raikkonen doesn't see a problem: "I don't see the reason why it won't work. We are old enough to know what we are doing and the team is for sure working for the right things. If there is something I'm sure we can talk it through; it's not like we are 20 years old anymore."
He added: "I might be wrong and time will tell but I'm pretty sure all things will be good. For sure there will be hard fights on the race circuit and sometimes things go wrong, but I'm pretty sure it will be okay."
He also dismissed rumours that he didn't enjoy his time at Ferrari when he raced for them between 2007 and 2009: "There are a lot of stories from my past at different teams but it's all from the media. I don't think you guys work at the different teams so you don't really know what is happening and you write a lot of stuff that is sometimes true and sometimes not. I had a good time and I'm sure we will have a good time together again."
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| (c) Octane Photographic |
Talks with Red Bull fizzled out and Lotus has continually missed paying the 33-year-old, something that heavily motivated his switch to Ferrari.
The missing payments are no new revelation, but what it has done is influenced Raikkonen's decision to leave, as he admitted in the official FIA driver press conference: "I like to race, that's the only reason why I'm here and it doesn't matter what team it is.
"The reasons why [I haven't been paid] you will have to ask from the team, but the reason why I left the team is purely from the money side - the thing is, I haven't got my salary. It's an unfortunate thing but I want to try to help the team as much as I can."
The blunt statement was typical Kimi and he also commented on recent speculation that pairing him with Alonso could create fireworks.
Felipe Massa and Jenson Button have recently admitted that they think the move could backfire. Button told AFP: "We'll definitely be watching their situation. Ferrari for many years has had two drivers in the team that have been very quick but when it gets to a point in the season, it seems one driver helps the other driver. I don't think that will be the case with Kimi and Fernando - I don't think they'll be trying to help the other driver. A guy that's achieved what they've achieved will not want to be helping out his team-mate."
However, Raikkonen doesn't see a problem: "I don't see the reason why it won't work. We are old enough to know what we are doing and the team is for sure working for the right things. If there is something I'm sure we can talk it through; it's not like we are 20 years old anymore."
He added: "I might be wrong and time will tell but I'm pretty sure all things will be good. For sure there will be hard fights on the race circuit and sometimes things go wrong, but I'm pretty sure it will be okay."
He also dismissed rumours that he didn't enjoy his time at Ferrari when he raced for them between 2007 and 2009: "There are a lot of stories from my past at different teams but it's all from the media. I don't think you guys work at the different teams so you don't really know what is happening and you write a lot of stuff that is sometimes true and sometimes not. I had a good time and I'm sure we will have a good time together again."
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