Kimi Raikkonen will spend his 15th year in Formula 1 as a Ferrari driver, after the Italian team confirmed that the Finn will continue with them in 2017, a decision hailed by teammate Sebastian Vettel."
Speaking on the day of the announcement to media at Silverstone, Vettel said, "It's the right thing to do. We are both pushing very hard. Our primary target is to catch the leaders, Mercedes, and there's plenty of work ahead of us. I think it's important, there's been a lot of talk, and it now goes quiet."
"Probably Kimi and myself have the least ego problems in the whole paddock, which I think is good for the team. We are working in the same direction and on the track we try to race hard - as we've shown in the past in the races where we have raced for position - but that's normal. Outside of the car there is no problem," added Vettel.
However, straight talking Raikkonen played down his relationship with Vettel, "I don't think the reason I'm staying here is because we're friends or not. If I wasn't doing my job correctly I wouldn't be here, and that's not the case. They were happy, I'm happy, so that's only what happens."
Maurizio Arrivabene told media that confirming Ferrari's 2007 F1 world champion for another year would take the pressure off him, "Actually it was confirmed [Thursday] in a phone call from the President [Sergio Marchionne]. We confirmed Kimi because, first of all, he deserves it."
"We are looking for the interest of the team and the interest of the team is not looking for other drivers, but concentrating in the car's development. We have two good drivers and now we remove all the pressure from Kimi," explained Arrivabene.
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