Lotus keen on Kimi stay

KIMI RAIKKONEN is happy at Lotus and will not quit for Red Bull — according to team owner Gerard Lopez.

After Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber's fall-out in Malaysia, speculation is rife this will be the Aussie's final year with the world champions.
Red Bull owner Dietrich Mateschitz has already been sounded out about potential replacements.
And when asked about 2007 world champion Raikkonen, Mateschitz was highly complimentary.
Lopez appears to have a fight on his hands in keeping the Finn but he is taking Mateschitz's comments with a pinch of salt.
He said: "Kimi’s position is going to be based on a bunch of things and not on what Red Bull say.
"I think they have their hands full right now. As far as we are concerned, the relationship with Kimi is excellent.
“We are where we want to be, he is where he wants to be.
"I can guarantee you Kimi is not the kind of guy who is going to sign any sort of pre-contract - not with anybody."
Lopez added: “If we keep giving him what he wants then I don’t see there is any reason for him to go anywhere.
"We are happy so we don’t see any reason for us to replace him.
“With regard to Red Bull, it’s part of the whole game right now as they’ve got their own issues.
“In saying something like that, maybe they’re trying to see if that can help them, but I don’t see how.
“We are where we are, and I think Kimi will stay.”
After finishing third in last season’s drivers’ championship, Lopez knows Raikkonen’s form is attractive.
And he said: “Kimi is a past world champion and he can be world champion on any other day given the quality of his driving and his experience.
“He doesn’t put a foot wrong. We saw that last year, we’ve seen it this year, and he’s very consistent.
“He finished third last year, and I’ve said he can go higher, so now we will see how much higher he can go.”