[1]Kimi Raikkonen made the decision to rejoin Ferrari next season after Lotus failed to pay his salary, the Finn admitting he would still fulfil his duties over the final seven races of his contract because he “loved to race”.
Last week, the 33-year-old agreed to replace Felipe Massa as Fernando Alonso’s team mate at Ferrari, setting up a formidable partnership of former world champions at the prestigious Italian outfit where he won the title in 2007. “I like to race,” the Finn told reporters ahead of the Singapore Grand Prix on Thursday when asked why he was seeing out the last seven races of the season despite not being paid.
“That’s the only reason why I am here. It doesn’t matter which team it is but the reason I left Lotus was purely on the money side. It’s an unfortunate thing but I want to help the team as much as I can and as I just told you, I like to race.” The Finn suggested that had Lotus matched his demands he may not have left but was happy with the decision now that it had been finalised.
“There were a lot of things they could have done to keep me and they know what it is,” the former drivers’ champion added.
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