Kimi’s WRC move may be permanent

Kimi Raikkonen has said that there is no guarantee his switch to the World Rally Championship will be a temporary one, after admitting that it is not certain he will come back to Formula 1.

The Finn has signed to do a near full campaign for the Red Bull-backed Citroen Junior team in 2010 after failing to find a seat suitable for him in F1 next year.

Although many have viewed the 2007 world champion's move across to rallying as an F1 sabbatical, Kimi himself says there is a chance his WRC switch could actually be permanent. Raikkonen has said in an exclusive interview that his long-term future was totally open. "I don't have any contract with F1 or anything else, so I have no idea what will happen," he said. "I have both options, to stay in rallying or try to come back to F1. I want to see how it goes, and then decide. I'm not in a hurry to decide.

"If it goes well, then I could keep doing it. There are many different scenarios. Right now it's just for this year, both with Red Bull and with Citroen."

Raikkonen also reveals that he suspects there was more to Ferrari's decision to get him out of his contract than simply his performance with the team.