Renault Hits Back at Raikkonen's Criticism

The members of the Renault F1 Team have hit back on Kimi Raikkonen's angry comments, issued earlier this week in an interview with a Finnish newspaper. Frustrated that his image is being used for marketing purposes, or at least that's what he believes it happened, the 2007 F1 champion criticized the Enstone organization and insisted he will not drive for Renault in 2011.

“I am very disappointed with the way they have used my name for their marketing. I have never seriously considered driving for Renault, and I can assure you 100 per cent that I will not be driving for them next year,” said Raikkonen, according to Turun Sanomat.

Raikkonen has been rumored to return to F1 racing with Renault F1 for a couple of weeks now, with team boss Eric Boullier confirming talks with the Finn's management a few times in the media. However, he insisted his aim was not to use Raikkonen's image to attract sponsors of publicity, and that the former Ferrari-an got it all wrong.

“We have not piggy-backed on Kimi's image at all,” said Boullier, according to the Reuters news agency, while also backed by his driver Robert Kubica. The Pole admitted his disappointment over Kimi's comments and believes the current WRC driver saw things differently than he should have.

“What he (Raikkonen) said I think was completely different to what the overall picture was looking like. I'm surprised because personally I thought there was a chance of him coming,” the Pole told reporters at Suzuka on Thursday.