Kimi Raikkonen Agrees To One-Year Extension With Ferrari Through End Of 2018 Season

Ferrari announced early Tuesday that driver Kimi Raikkonen has agreed to a new one-year contract with the team that runs through the end of the 2018 Formula 1 season.

Kimi Raikkonen Ferrari Contract News

The 37-year-old former world champion from Finland has raced with Ferrari since 2014 and has been on a one-year rolling deal with them since the end of 2015.

“Ferrari announces that Scuderia Ferrari has renewed its technical and racing agreement with Kimi Raikkonen,” a brief statement from Ferrari read. “The Finnish driver will therefore race for the Maranello team in the 2018 Formula One World Championship.”

Raikkonen is fifth in the championship standings, with teammate Sebastian Vettel leading Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton by 14 points.

The Finn first joined Ferrari in 2007, winning the F1 drivers’ championship in his first season, but left at the end of 2009 to take a break from the sport.

Raikkonnen returned to Ferrari in 2014 alongside Fernando Alonso, and Vettel arrived one year later.

Vettel, 30, is out of contract at Ferrari at the end of the year and some believe the German could re-sign with the team.

Raikkonen has scored 86 less points than Vettel through the opening 11 races of the 2017 season.

Nine of the Finn’s 20 F1 career victories have been with Ferrari. He won another nine with McLaren early in his career, and two with Lotus in 2012-13. Raikkonen’s 122 starts with Ferrari put him at third on the team’s all-time list, behind only Michael Schumacher (179) and Felipe Massa (139).

Alonso — a 36-year-old Spaniard who is currently racing for McLaren-Honda — and Mercedes’ Valtteri Bottas have yet to announce a new contract.

BUDAPEST, HUNGARY – JULY 30: Kimi Raikkonen of Finland driving the (7) Scuderia Ferrari SF70H on track during the Formula One Grand Prix of Hungary at Hungaroring on July 30, 2017 in Budapest, Hungary. (Photo by Dan Mullan/Getty Images)