Lotus sees no reason why Kimi Raikkonen would opt to race elsewhere in 2013, amid speculation that he may leave Lotus.
The team’s technical director James Allison is confident that Raikkonen is enjoying his return to Formula 1 with Lotus, which has satisfied many of the 32-year-old’s demands regarding media commitments.
“He doesn’t give us any reason to think that he is going elsewhere,” said Allison. “I think he likes it with us, I think we’re giving him competitive equipment and it’s a very straightforward working environment for any driver who comes and works in our team.”
Allison emphasised the importance of retaining it’s current line-up of Raikkonen and Romain Grosjean for 2013 in order to ensure they can continue their fight at the top.
“It’s important for us to carry that strength through to next year as well,” he said. “We won’t have any engineering bedding in to do that we have when we have a new driver if we can have that continuity, but for this year it’s going to be great and we’re all working very well together. If we can carry that through to next year, which no doubt we will, that will be an additional advantage to us.”
Video – James Allison interview:
