Lotus Challenged to Build Top Car to Keep Raikkonen in 2014

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F1 team has quite the challenge laid ahead of it, if it wants to keep Kimi Raikkonen with the team in the future. Raikkonen's contract is over at the end of the year, and the team believes that if it can create a championship-winning quality car, then it will be able to keep Raikkonen on the team. 

"To be honest with you, I am convinced, and I don't say this lightly, that if Kimi gets what he wants from us in terms of performance and so on, we will see Kimi moving forward with us.

"He knows that; and he says that. He is not going to get what he gets with us here anywhere else. It doesn't matter if the team has a blue car, a red car or a silver car," said team owner Gerard Lopez. 

Raikkonen has scored 10 podiums, among them two wins, since returning to F1 last year. He is currently 10 points off the World Drivers' Championship. 

Lopez said that while Raikkonen's return to F1 was surprising to outsiders, he never had doubts.

"We were absolutely convinced that he had what he takes. I dealt with him, talked to him and knew what I was going to get myself in to. I knew I wasn't getting someone who was going to shoot a commercial every week or whatever. That is not what we want," said Lopez. 

Source: Autosport