Sauber Wants Raikkonen, Awaits Permission

Formula One team owner Peter Sauber said on Wednesday that he wanted inexperienced Finnish driver Kimi Raikkonen to drive for him next season.

"We would like Kimi Raikkonen to drive our second car next to (Germany's) Nick Heidfeld," Sauber said.

"When we get the confirmation of the super licence by the FIA, the public and media will be informed accordingly."

Finnish MTV3 television said that the 21-year-old Raikkonen had signed a contract with Sauber.

But a team spokeswoman told Reuters that the super licence, and not the contract, was now the key issue and nothing was certain until the permit was obtained.

"If he gets the super licence, he will drive," she said.

Raikkonen is the British Formula Renault champion but has had just 23 car races to date and does not qualify for a licence to race in Formula One on the basis of his results.

In order to get a licence, the Finn must show the ruling International Automobile Federation (FIA) that he has a contract but that alone will not be enough to give him the green light to race next season.

An FIA commission will meet next month to rule on his application.

However FIA president Max Mosley has been reported as saying he is opposed to granting the licence and others have also voiced concern.

Former world champion Keke Rosberg, who now manages McLaren's Mika Hakkinen, was quoted as saying that granting the Finn a licence would change the sport.

"The world will change if Raikkonen gets a super licence," Autosport magazine quoted Rosberg as saying. "It will turn the whole driver market on its head."

He said the signing, following the arrival of 20-year-old Briton Jenson Button in Formula One last season, would lead to teams recruiting ever younger drivers with a knock-on effect on drivers' salaries.

Raikkonen's best hope of obtaining a licence would be if the FIA decided his Formula One testing performances were good enough.

The Finn has twice tested with the Swiss-based team at the Mugello track in Italy as a possible replacement for the departed Mika Salo and Sauber said last month that he was very impressed.

Sauber, powered by Ferrari engines, finished the season in eighth place with six points with Salo scoring all of them. Compatriot Hakkinen narrowly lost this year's title to German driver Michael Schumacher.

Brazilian Pedro Diniz was Salo's teammate last season but has been linked to a move to the Prost team.