Raikkonen heading for extended Ferrari deal, says Robertson

Kimi Raikkonen’s manager Steve Robertson says everything is moving in the right direction for the Finn to extend his Ferrari contract.

Raikkonen, who last year hinted that 2015 might be his last season, is now committed to a longer term future with the team – and just has to wait for the Maranello outfit to take up its option.

“Everybody’s positive,” Robertson told this writer. “Kimi wants to carry on and he’s made that very, very clear. The team is happy with his input and his consistency. It’s all positive talk, but there’s a difference between positive talk and pen to paper and all that sort of stuff. But at the end of the day it’s all heading in the right direction. He wants to be part of it, 100 per cent.”

Raikkonen has been upbeat since his first run in the SF15-T hinted at the potential of the package, and he works well with close pal Sebastian Vettel. Robertson agrees that the key is Kimi is having fun again.

“As soon as he had the first test he said, ‘The car’s a good car, there’s a lot more potential there, they took a big step in the chassis and a big step in the engine. He’s enjoying driving. At the end of the day for Kimi it’s very important that he enjoys it, he doesn’t need to be here for any other reason. He wants to be competitive, he wants to be challenging for races wins and championships, and now he’s in the position to do that.

“It’s a completely different team, it’s a completely different package. Everything is positive. Last year it was difficult to find something positive. He enjoys the car, it suits his driving style more, he’s in a team that’s on the upward trend. Everybody is pushing. Just look around at all the smiling faces, and Kimi’s one of those smiling faces.

“He loves F1 when it’s like this – of course he doesn’t love F1 when everything’s a shit fight and the car’s not good. He loves the environment like it is, and the package, and he can only see it getting stronger.”