Motor racing-Raikkonen returns to Ferrari

The 2007 Formula One world champion is going back to the glamour team he left in 2009.

Kimi Raikkonen, left, will leave Lotus to partner Fernando Alonso, right, at Ferrari next season. Drew Gibson / Getty Images
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Kimi Raikkonen will race for Ferrari next season after agreeing a two-year deal that takes the 2007 Formula One world champion back to the glamour team he left in 2009.

Ferrari said in a statement that the 33-year-old Finnish "Iceman", currently competing for Lotus, will replace Brazilian Felipe Massa alongside Spain's double world champion Fernando Alonso.

"Scuderia Ferrari announces that it has reached an agreement with Kimi Raikkonen. The Finn will join Fernando Alonso in the driver line-up for the next two racing seasons," the statement said.

Massa, championship runner-up to Lewis Hamilton in 2008 before he suffered near-fatal head injuries in Hungary the following year, had already announced on social media that he would not be driving for the Italian team in 2014.