Ferrari president pledges Raikkonen support

The Finn, who hasn't won a race in the last four months, has been rumoured to be forced out of the Italian team next year, despite having a contract running to the end of 2009, with the two-time Spanish champion in line for the coveted drive.

However, when questioned by the Italian media on whether the driver line-up at Maranello would remain the same next year, di Montezemolo replied: "Absolutely, yes."

Asked if that meant that Alonso should put his mind at rest then, the Italian said: "I don't know if he can put his mind at rest, poor guy, at the moment it's up to him. I was sorry to see a great champion like him be out of the top ten at Valencia.

"But with regards to Ferrari, he can put his mind at rest."

Di Montezemolo added: "All this criticism (of Raikkonen) reminds me of when (Filippo) Inzaghi was at Juventus: if he didn't score for three games, everyone would say he was in crisis.

"It can't be forgotten that he's the world champion, and that last year he won in his first season with Ferrari, while many people never thought he would do so. Now he has 17 victories and I hope he'll get back to winning ways in the next Grand Prix in Belgium. Anyway, he's not a driver in crisis.

"Kimi is motivated and we must work to put him in the conditions to start races nearer the front, especially on these new circuits which I don't like and are bad for F1: you can't overtake on them, and nine times out of ten the man on pole wins."

During yesterday's Formula One testing session in Monza, Raikkonen was visited by di Montezemolo.

Asked what his president had told him, the Finn was quoted as saying by Gazzetta dello Sport: "He didn't tell me anything in particular. I already had a contract (for 2009), so it's nothing new for me.

"Today's test went well, we've tried different solutions to several small problems. In the next races we'll do our best to win and we'll see how it ends up."