Raikkonen focused on rest of season

Kimi Raikkonen will do his all for Lotus between now and the end of the season
13 September 2013

Kimi Raikkonen is adamant it will be business as usual for the rest of the season with Lotus, despite the Finn returning to Ferrari from next season.

Feverish speculation regarding Raikkonen's future finally came to an end on Wednesday when Ferrari confirmed the 33-year-old had signed a two-year contract to form a 'super team' partnership with Fernando Alonso.

Raikkonen first still has to negotiate the final seven races of this campaign with Lotus, although he does not foresee any issues - with the exception of annoying questions about his impending move.

Asked as to how his decision would affect him for the remainder of the year, Raikkonen said: "Hopefully it means I won't be asked so much where I'm driving next year - but maybe it means more questions.

"For my racing this season it doesn't make any difference. I'll keep pushing at every race to get the best result I can."

After failing to score points in his last two races - remarkably after a Formula One record run of 27 consecutive grands prix in the points - Raikkonen's title hopes now appear remote.

Trailing triple world champion Sebastian Vettel by 88 points going into next weekend's Singapore Grand Prix, the Finn added: "You don't win championships by not scoring points.

"We've had two races where we haven't scored, which is not ideal. We are here to race and score as many points as we can.

"Of course, that's what everyone is trying to do so we just have to hope we have some pretty good races for the rest of the year, then we'll see where we end up in the standings."

Despite the bitter disappointment of losing Raikkonen to Ferrari, team principal Eric Boullier has no doubt there will be no let up from his star driver.

Boullier said: "We know Kimi will be pushing hard for the remainder of this season to secure the very best results he can for himself and the team.

"His fighting drive in Monza (Italian Grand Prix where Raikkonen was 11th after an early collision) shows just how well he can push.

"Obviously we want to get back to scoring as many points as we can, and it is only three races ago in Budapest we scored the most points of any team.

"This team has bounced back before and we are focused on achieving the very best results we can over the remaining seven races of this season."

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