Welcome to F1Minute - Kimi Räikkönen to return to F1 with Lotus Renault in 2012.

The 2007 F1 World Champion, Kimi Räikkönen, has finally been revealed as one of Lotus Renault’s drivers for next season. There’s been speculation ongoing over the future of the Finn, who left F1 to participate in the World Rally Championship, and he had been linked to Williams in previous months.

Now, Renault have confirmed their new driver for a two year contract, beginning next year. Talking of the return, Kimi said: “The main reason is that I never really lost the passion for racing in Formula 1, just maybe for all the other things around it... Really there were two options, it was this team or Williams. And everything worked out with Lotus Renault as we wanted, so that’s really the reason.”

He also addressed the oft-asked question about his motives for racing, and said: “I would not have come back if I wasn’t motivated. There is always a lot of talk about motivation but nobody really knows what I do or what I think apart from myself so I don’t really care about what people say.”

Welcome back, Kimi!