Raikkonen to Push to the Limit in Last Race for Ferrari

Kimi Raikkonen will be making his last appearance in a Ferrari race suit during the season finale at Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, and the Finn admitted that he wants to make a great impression at his final outing for the prancing horse. The 2007 title holder wants to reward Ferrari with the 3rd place in the Constructors' standings, a position that they'd lost during the Brazilian Grand Prix two weekends ago.

“It’s time for me to say good-bye to the guys at Ferrari after three years together. I’m proud of the things we achieved, especially the Drivers’ Title in 2007 and the Constructors’ title in the same year and in 2008,” said Raikkonen in a preview for the race at Yas Marina circuit.

“The race in Abu Dhabi will be my last Grand Prix with Ferrari and as usual I will give it everything to gain the best possible result. We’ll try to conclude this difficult year with a good result, hoping that it will be enough to gain the third place in the Constructors’ Championship, McLaren took over in Brazil. It will be difficult, because the competition is very strong,” added the Finn, who is yet to commit to a racing deal for 2010.

Raikkonen has been practically the only driver to keep Ferrari alive in the Constructors' race throughout the last 7 grands prix, as neither Luca Badoer nor Giancarlo Fisichella – the drivers replacing Felipe Massa after his Hungarian Grand Prix crash – managed to get any points up on the scoreboard.

In all, Raikkonen scored 48 of Ferrari's 70 points this season and, despite doing all the work in the second half of the season, still managed to keep his team alive in the battle for 3rd place. Heading to the Abu Dhabi circuit, Ferrari needs to score 2 points more than McLaren – if equal-pointed in the classification, McLaren holds the upper hand thanks to their 2 wins in the season – in order to secure that position in the classification.