(Photo by Mark Thompson/Getty Images)
Paddock sources are reporting that Kimi Raikkonen has signed an agreement to return to Mclaren, if he is replaced by Fernando Alonso at Ferrari, and then only IF he gets his pay for the 2010 season. A reported $30m.
This $30m is allegedly the only thing that is stopping Kimi from moving back to his former team.
2007 champion Raikkonen, 29, has recently stated that he will definitely be on the grid next season.
"If for some reason I am not at Ferrari next season I know I'll have a seat at another team in the paddock," he recently told the British press.
The Daily Mirror is reporting that Raikkonen has signed a deal with Mclaren in preparation for Alonso poaching his Ferrari seat from him. But he will not leave Ferrari early if he does not receive his full pay from the Italian company.
Raikkonen, famously fell out with Mclaren after reliability cost him at least one world championship.
He left Mclaren at the end of 2006, and won the world championship for Ferrari in 2007, beating both Mclaren drivers in the final race of the season.
Mclaren, who won the WDC in 2008 with Lewis Hamilton, want Raikkonen quite badly. They have been looking for a superb "dream team" since 2007, when they tried to pair Hamilton with double world champion Fernando Alonso.
The relationship was very stormy, and Alonso left at the end of the season, returning to Renault.
The Mclaren "dream team" idea has been around for many years, after the successful pairing of Ayrton Senna and Alain Prost in 1988. During that season, the team won 15 out of 16 races.
Mclaren's engine partner, Mercedes-Benz, are believed to want a German driver installed in the team, and are pushing hard for Nico Rosberg to take up the second Mclaren seat.
This is leading to tensions within the team, as Mclaren want Raikkonen back.
This would add credence to the rumours that Mercedes are looking to take a majority stake in the Brawn GP team, with the interest in making it a Mercedes works team.
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