Kimi Raikkonen will leave Lotus and make a sensational return to Ferrari in 2014, it was confirmed on Wednesday. It follows Tuesday’s news that Felipe Massa will exit the Italian team at the end of the year.

Raikkonen - who previously drove for Ferrari between 2007 and 2009, winning nine races and the 2007 drivers’ title - has signed a two-year deal with the Scuderia, ending intense speculation about his future.

The Finn will join Fernando Alonso, meaning that Ferrari will enter next season with an all-world champion line-up.

“I am really happy to be returning to Maranello where I previously spent three fantastic and very successful years,” Raikkonen told the Ferrari website. "I have so many memories of my time at Ferrari, memories which have stayed with me these past years, first and foremost, winning the world championship title in 2007, which was really unforgettable.

"I can’t wait to be driving a Prancing Horse car again and to reacquaint myself with so many people with whom I had such close links, as well as working with Fernando, whom I consider a great driver, in order to bring the team the success it deserves.”

Ferrari team principal, Stefano Domenicali, commented: “I am pleased to welcome Kimi back to the Scuderia, the team with which he won his world championship title. I sense he is very happy to be returning to Maranello and very determined to tackle the work that awaits him in the best way possible.”

Alonso echoed his team principal’s sentiments, saying: “I’d like to welcome my new travelling companion: together, starting next year, we will have to tackle a very demanding technical and racing challenge.”

Raikkonen left Formula One racing after his first stint with Ferrari came to an end, but returned to the sport in 2012 with Lotus, finishing an impressive third in the championship. He’s scored one victory so far this season and currently sits fourth in the drivers’ standings, 88 points behind championship leader Sebastian Vettel.

Kimi Raikkonen says second places will not be enough for him to close the gap to Sebastian Vettel in the drivers' championship.

With Lewis Hamilton winning the Hungarian Grand Prix before the mid-season break, Raikkonen finished second ahead of Vettel but only managed to close the gap in the standings by three points. Ahead of returning to racing next weekend at Spa, Raikkonen said he would need victories to close the 38-point deficit by the end of the season.

"I am now back in second which was a good way to enter the summer break," Raikkonen said. "I finished ahead of Seb [Vettel] in Hungary so obviously scored more points than him there. To beat him, we need to be winning races and if we keep finishing second like we've done many times this year it's probably not going to be enough for the championship, but you never know what might happen."

Raikkonen added that his main focus has to be to improve his qualifying performances in order to give himself a better chance of victory.

"Obviously I keep making my life difficult on Saturdays in qualifying so then we pay a price, but we still have a good car in the race. Now we have tyres that are a little bit different we have to understand exactly how to use them. We made progress in Budapest so it should be easier in Spa, but that will be the same for everyone. To win, it's always better to be starting near the front."

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Kimi Raikkonen's hopes of boosting his challenge for the drivers world championship were encouraged this week with the news that his Lotus team are planning their biggest upgrade package of the year for next weekend's British Grand Prix.

The 33-year-old Finn, who has lost ground to championship leader and defending triple champion German Sebastian Vettel of Red Bull in recent weeks, is currently 44 points behind. Vettel has 132 points ahead of Spaniard Fernando Alonso of Ferrari on 96 and Raikkonen on 88.

But with the introduction of their new improvements, he believes he can bounce back to form after struggling at the last two races on temporary tracks in Monaco and Montreal.

He said: "Silverstone is a more normal circuit and we've been OK at every other permanent circuit so far this year. There's no reason why we shouldn't be back to the positions we should be with this package."

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Masterful tyre management in a surprisingly quick Lotus put the colourful Finn top of the podium in Melbourne, with Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso second and Sebastian Vettel, gunning for his fourth straight world title, third.

“Finntastic” trumpeted Australian press, and “Finn puts party back into Formula 1”, as media welcomed a challenge to the accepted order at the start of the new season.

Three championships in three years have already placed Red Bull’s German pilot Vettel, 25, among the sport’s greats, but the return of the party-loving Raikkonen – who owns a luxury seafront home at Serenity Terraces in Phuket’s Rawai area – has proved invigorating.

And after rain storms wiped out Saturday qualifying in Australia, teams will be braced for another tough weekend at Malaysia’s Sepang circuit, where tropical downpours played havoc last year and in 2009.

A year ago, Raikkonen marked his return to Malaysia after a two-year stint in rallying by handing out ice-creams, a nod to an episode on his previous visit in 2009, when he coolly snacked on a Magnum during a rain delay.

The 33-year-old has twice been a winner on the long straights and tight hairpins of the Sepang circuit, built on former palm plantations near the Malaysian capital, but has also failed to finish four times and was fifth last year.

His ability to maintain Pirelli’s new, deliberately fast-wearing tyres was critical in Melbourne, but he will face an entirely different test in Malaysia’s heat, humidity and possible rain come race day Sunday.

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