Scuderia Ferrari has announced that it has renewed its technical and racing agreement with Kimi Raikkonen, and the driver line-up next season will consist of the Finnish driver and Sebastian Vettel. It's a move that will ensure stability within the team for this year and the next.
This announcement highlights the great relationship Ferrari has with the Finn, amid rumours that were swirling within the paddock that hinted about the strained relations between the driver and the team, and moves to secure either Valterri Bottas or Nico Hulkenberg for Raikkonen's seat.
Maurizio Arrivabene underlined the renewal of Raikkonen's contract by saying, "we believe that extending Kimi's contract into the next season will provide further stability to the team. This 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."
Such words from the racing team's boss can be interpreted in a variety of ways, but ultimately, Scuderia Ferrari is doing the right thing by having two world champions at the helm, as it tries to resurrect its season from the recent doldrums that it has been in.
For Raikkonen, it's basically a dream that goes on. "what can I say? For me, to be able to stay another year at Ferrari means that the dream goes on. the Scuderia is my family, as I always said, it's here 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. Also, a big thank you goes to all my Ferrari fans, for their continuous support."
The Finn is currently fifth in the driver's standing with 76 points as he heads into the Belgian Grand Prix this weekend. Just to recap, the 'Iceman' won the 2007 World Championship with Ferrari, left the team in 2009, had a go at WRC and NASCAR before heading back to Formula One in 2012 with the Lotus F1 team.
Interestingly, the Belgian Grand Prix will be Scuderia Ferrari's 900th Grand Prix. Kimi Raikkonen, the king of Spa, with four wins to his name there is really looking forward to the weekend.
"I love racing on this track, it's very nice and it has all the appeal of the circuits of days gone by. Usually, it's a very exciting race, with a lot of overtaking, but much depends on the weather and what tyre compounds are available. My best win? definitely the one in 2009, because we didn't have a particularly quick car, but thanks to a good start we managed to get a great result."
"The fact we won in Hungary doesn't change our approach to the next race," adds Alberto Antonini, head of communications for Scuderia Ferrari. "We didn't think we were going through a crisis after Silverstone and we don't believe we are brilliant now. We are keeping our feet on the ground, as we know we are up against some very strong opposition, but we will give it our best shot as always."
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