“The most important thing right now is to sort out the back problem. Then Kimi
can go into next season in the best of shape.”
Raikkonen, who suffered a flare-up of a longstanding back complaint in
Singapore in September, apparently contacted Lotus team principal Eric
Boullier on Saturday night to inform him of his decision.
It remains unclear what impact his absence might have on his ongoing pay
dispute. He is expected to be out of action for four weeks.
Lotus said that they would announce Raikkonen’s replacement “in due course”
but 2012 GP2 champion Valsecchi appears likely to step into the seat.
Sauber’s Nico Hulkenberg and Williams’s Pastor Maldonado are vying to take
Raikkonen’s seat in the longer term but it is unlikely that either driver
would be released early from his contract.
Lotus are involved in a three-way scrap with Mercedes and Ferrari for second
place in the constructors’ championship.
Meanwhile, Bernie Ecclestone will be back in the High Court on Monday morning.
Formula One’s chief executive is a co-defendant in a $140million damages
suit brought by German media firm Constantin Medien.
Ecclestone had intended to travel to New York ahead of this week’s race in
Texas for one final stab at saving next year’s inaugural Grand Prix of New
Jersey.
The 83-year-old told reporters in Abu Dhabi that he doubted the race,
scheduled for June 1 2014, would go ahead.