19 Nov 2009

Raikkonen to quit F1 for rallying

10:35 am on 19 November 2009

The 2007 Fomula One world champion Kimi Raikkonen will focus on rallying next year after failing to reach a deal with McLaren.

Raikkonen's manager David Robertson says McLaren couldn't afford the Finn so he's going to go rallying instead.

Robertson says Raikkonen wants to return to Formula One in 2011 but with all the money he's made he didn't want to go in a medium-type team for money and wanted to go only where he felt had had a chance of the world championship.

Raikkonen spent five years at McLaren before joining Ferrari at the end of 2006 and winning the title in his first season there.

He has now been ousted at the Italian team by Spain's double world champion Fernando Alonso, despite having a year to run on his contract.

The 30-year-old competed in this year's Finnish round of the WRC.