Kimi Raikkonen will leave Lotus and move to Ferrari for 2014, it has been announced today.
The 2007 World Champion last drove for Ferrari in 2009, but was controversially replaced by Fernando Alonso, despite having one year left on his contract.
Raikkonen will partner Alonso at the Italian team next season; to form what will arguably be one of the strongest team mate pairings the sport has ever seen.
The news comes a day after Felipe Massa announced that 2013 would be his final year at the squad.
“Scuderia Ferrari announces that it has reached an agreement with Kimi Raikkonen. The Finn will join Fernando Alonso in the driver line-up for the next two racing seasons,” the team said in a brief statement that was published earlier today.
“I am pleased to welcome Kimi back to the Scuderia, the team with which he won his World Championship title,” team boss, Stefano Domenicali said.
“I sense he is very happy to be returning to Maranello and very determined to tackle the work that awaits him in the best way possible.”
Nico Hulkenberg is the favourite to replace Raikkonen at Lotus. The Enstone based team brought Raikkonen back to Formula One at the start of 2012. In his time at Lotus, Raikkonen has won two races to date, and finished third in the championship behind Sebastian Vettel and Alonso last season.
