Kimi Raikkonen reveals salary issues made him switch teams

Kimi Raikkonen with Fernando Alonso

Lotus driver Kimi Raikkonen confirmed that he will race for Ferrari in 2014 two weeks back and during the press conference in Singapore, the Finn revealed the prime reason that made him switch teams instead of sticking with Lotus.

He said: “I like to race, that’s the only reason why I’m here and it doesn’t matter what team it is. The reasons why (I haven’t been paid) you will have to ask from the team, but the reason why I left the team is purely from the money side – the thing is, I haven’t got my salary. It’s an unfortunate thing but I want to try to help the team as much as I can.”

Even in 2012, it was reported that Lotus were struggling to pay Raikkonen his bonus salary after excelling in all races and winning the Abu Dhabi GP.

After it was announced that Raikkonen will pair Alonso, everybody are expecting fireworks. However, Raikkonen expects no problems whatsoever. He said: “I don’t see the reason why it won’t work. We are old enough to know what we are doing and the team is for sure working for the right things. If there is something I’m sure we can talk it through. It’s not like we are 20 years old anymore.”

He added: “I might be wrong and time will tell but I’m pretty sure all things will be good. For sure there will be hard fights on the race circuit and sometimes things go wrong, but I’m pretty sure it will be okay.”

The Finn also dismissed rumors about his previous stint with the team. He said: “There are a lot of stories from my past at different teams but it’s all from the media. I don’t think you guys work at the different teams so you don’t really know what is happening and you write a lot of stuff that is sometimes true and sometimes not. I had a good time and I’m sure we will have a good time together again.”