Raikkonen snubbed Ferrari for McLaren

Raikkonen is to replace fellow Finn Mika Hakkinen at McLaren for 2002 as the double world champ is taking a sabbatical. But the 21-year-old Sauber driver is believed to have been offered a seat alongside Michael Schumacher at Ferrari for 2003 earlier this year.

However, he is believed to have to turned down the Maranello drive because he knew he would not get equal status with the four-time world champion.

When announcing his young signing, McLaren boss Ron Dennis revealed that Raikkonen had turned down an offer from a leading team, but did not say which team it was - only that it was one which has distinct number one and number two drivers, the most well known of which is Ferrari.

"Kimi had options with other teams," said Dennis, "and one of them was to stay at Sauber for one more year and then move on to a team where he would be a number two driver.

"The thought of that was very unattractive to him because he did not want to be a number two in a team. Whereas at McLaren, we have a policy of not having number one and number two drivers and that is set to continue. Kimi liked that."