Kimi Raikkonen: Sauber talks only started at Monza

Kimi Raikkonen says formal discussions with Sauber only started at Monza once he was informed that he would not be staying with Ferrari.

Raikkonen has spent eight years, across two spells, competing for Ferrari, though faced growing pressure to retain his seat amid the rise of Charles Leclerc.

On Tuesday it was confirmed that Raikkonen would leave Ferrari at the end of the year and shortly afterwards Sauber announced it had secured the Finn’s services through 2020.

“In Monza, that’s when I knew [I was leaving Ferrari]” he said. “I know people at Sauber from the past, so it basically started after that.

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“I wouldn’t say there were plans for a long time to go back there.”

When pushed on why he opted to re-join the team with which he debuted in 2001, he replied: “Because I want to go. Why do you [media] try to make it so complicated?

“I don’t know anything more than you guys, purely where they’ve been finishing. I don’t know what will happen, nobody knows what will happen next year, what will be the speed of the car.

“We can always guess but we’ll see what we can do. Those are my reasons and that’s enough for me.

“I don’t really care about what the others think, as long as I’m happy with my own reasons, that’s fine for me.”

Raikkonen also suggested that Sauber is likely to be the last team for which he competes in Formula 1.

“There’s a big chance, for sure,” he said. “I’m not interested in any numbers or records, purely on what I feel is right for me.

“We’ll see what happens in the future, no idea. Hopefully we’ll stay heathy and all those things and see what happens.”