Raikkonen happy to stay put

19/09/2012

Kimi Raikkonen has dismissed speculation linking him with two of his former teams, McLaren and Ferrari.

The Flying Finn, who after two seasons away from Formula One, mainly contesting the WRC, has clearly lost none of his speed or determination.

However, amidst speculation over the future of Lewis Hamilton, not to mention, Felipe Massa, Raikkonen has become embroiled in the media frenzy surrounding who might go where. While one British tabloid declares that McLaren is targeting Sergio Perez, Raikkonen has been linked with Ferrari, with whom he won his sole title, and McLaren, for whom he raced for five seasons.

Speaking in Singapore Raikkonen was keen to dismiss the furore, telling Reuters that he is happy where he is.

"I have a good relationship with the team," he said, "people are pushing 100 percent and they are real racing people not so much politics, they want to do well in the races and that is a good starting point."

Refusing to clarify who he was referring to in terms of politics, he added: "I enjoy working with the people, very nice and I'm happy here but you never know what happens in the future but right now I'm happy with what's going on."

Whilst recruited by Ferrari to replace Michael Schumacher, a move many feel caused the German to retire from the sport before he was fully ready, Raikkonen too was subsequently moved aside to make way for the arrival of Fernando Alonso.

Looking ahead to this weekend's race in Singapore, where he has raced twice, his best result being tenth in 2009, he said: "It's a street circuit so it always makes it a little bit more tricky when you try to get the best out, if you make a little mistake, there is a big chance to hit the wall, in a normal circuit you have some run off areas."

And as for the title fight, in which he is currently third, one point adrift of Lewis Hamilton: "Winning is the easiest way to achieve the championship, but unfortunately I haven't been able to win this year but we have been putting ourselves close to there, giving us a chance. At least we haven't made any big mistakes."