12 Sep 2013

Raikkonen signs new Ferrari contract

5:55 am on 12 September 2013

Kimi Raikkonen is returning to Ferrari next season on a two-year deal that takes the 2007 world motor racing champion back to the glamour team he left in 2009.

The 33-year-old 'Iceman', currently with Lotus, will replace the Brazilian Felipe Massa alongside Spain's double world champion Fernando Alonso.

The Spaniard, who's contracted to Ferrai until the end of 2016, has made it clear he would have been happy to continue with Massa as his team-mate and thanked the Brazilian for his support in their four years together.

Alonso didn't mention Raikkonen by name, welcoming instead his "new travelling companion."

Ferrari, who haven't won a title since 2008, last had two world champions in their lineup in 1953, the Italian greats Alberto Ascari and Giuseppe Farina.