Raikkonen in dreamland after new Ferrari deal

Kimi Raikkonen

LONDON (Reuters): Kimi Raikkonen expressed his love for Ferrari on Wednesday after the Formula One team said the Finn would be staying with them next year in an unchanged lineup with Germany’s Sebastian Vettel.

“What can I say?...for me, to be able to stay another year at Ferrari means that the dream goes on,” the 35-year-old told the team website after an announcement that caught the sport off guard.

“The Scuderia (team) is my family, as I always said, it’s here (that) I want to end my career. I am more committed than ever and I want to say thank you to the people who gave me this chance.” Raikkonen was out of contract at the end of 2015 and facing an uncertain future, with media speculation already focusing on who might replace the ‘Iceman’ at one of the most coveted seats on the starting grid.

Instead, a short statement from Maranello forced a rethink.

“Scuderia Ferrari announces that it has renewed its technical and racing agreement with Kimi Raikkonen,” the team said as the paddock regrouped in Spa-Francorchamps for Sunday’s Belgian Grand Prix.

“The driver lineup next season will still consist of the Finnish driver and Sebastian Vettel.”

Raikkonen, the 2007 world champion who returned to Ferrari in 2014, had always made clear he wanted to stay but team principal Maurizio Arrivabene had been keeping his options open about one of the sport’s highest paid drivers.

“We believe that extending Kimi’s contract into the next season will provide further stability to the team,” said Arrivabene, well aware that an announcement now will relieve Ferrari of unwanted hassle at next month’s Italian Grand Prix.

“This (stability) has been our guideline, also considering the very good relationship between Kimi and Seb. On our side, this shows our great confidence in him and I expect this confidence to be well rewarded,” added Arrivabene. Had Raikkonen been dropped, it would have triggered a driver merry-go-round as well as the likely farewell of one of Formula One’s most popular, if least talkative, drivers.

Raikkonen’s compatriot Valtteri Bottas, currently with Williams, had been considered a frontrunner with speculation in the Finnish and Italian media having suggested Bottas has an agreement with Ferrari for 2017, if not next year.

Italy’s Corriere dello Sport newspaper last month claimed Ferrari had agreed to pay Williams some 12 million euros ($13.28 million) for releasing Bottas early from an option on his contract.

That is clearly not the case, and Bottas is likely to remain at Williams for at least another year.

Raikkonen, eclipsed by Spaniard Fernando Alonso at Ferrari last year, has been outperformed by Vettel in 2015 with the German scoring 160 points to the Finn’s 76.

Four-times world champion Vettel, who moved from Red Bull at the end of last year, has already won two races for Ferrari while Raikkonen has not triumphed since he was at Lotus in 2013.

The Finn, who can now look forward to his sixth year at Maranello after first joining from McLaren in 2007 and then being dropped at the end of 2009, has made just one podium this year -- second place in Bahrain.

Rosberg at ease as fatherhood looms

Nico Rosberg

Nico Rosberg made light of his recent Formula One title travails on Thursday by focusing instead on a happier case of car trouble.

The German, 21 points adrift of Mercedes team mate and double champion Lewis Hamilton as the season enters its second half, spent the August break at home preparing for the arrival of his first child.

His wife Vivian is due to give birth to a daughter next week and Rosberg said he had the family cars ready for the trip to the hospital.

“Everything’s packed, the car engine was running in the garage,” he smiled in a meeting with reporters at the Belgian Grand Prix. “The baby seat is in the Mercedes ML and it took me two hours to put it in there,” he added. “It was one of the toughest recent experiences.”

The pain of Hungary, a topsy turvy race where at one point Rosberg looked like emerging in the lead of the championship but ended up eighth and further behind Hamilton after a late collision with Australian Daniel Ricciardo, had eased.

“Hungary was very annoying because it was such a great opportunity to close the gap on Lewis,” he said. “It’s also just annoying to lose second place in such a way right at the end there.

“So it was tough but as always in sport it’s not very long lasting, those emotions. I did very much enjoy the summer break.”

Faded also were the memories of last year’s Belgian Grand Prix, where the two Mercedes drivers collided on the second lap of the race in a drama that led Hamilton to accuse then-championship leader Rosberg of doing it deliberately.

“It was a tough time after this race here for everybody but no regrets. I learned a lot. That’s it,” he said.

Hamilton has won five races to Rosberg’s three this season but started nine of 10 from pole position – a reversal of last year where the German was the qualifying king in a battle that went down to the wire.

“I need to keep pushing the way I have,” said Rosberg. “It just needs to be slightly the other way and that’s it. It’s 21 points and at times in the last race I was actually leading the championship.

“It was very close in the first half (of the season) and with sport it can go either way...I need to keep pushing, keep winning races and I believe I can make it happen.”