Near the end of the 2009 season, Ferrari announced that Räikkönen would be leaving the team, despite having a contract to race for them in 2010. He would be replaced by Fernando Alonso.
He was expected to return to McLaren alongside Lewis Hamilton but negotiations with the team failed.
Räikkönen was linked to Mercedes GP but the team eventually signed Michael Schumacher and Nico Rosberg.
Toyota F1, before it pulled out of Formula One, offered Räikkönen a driving contract to replace Timo Glock in 2010. The BBC reported that he refused the contract owing to wanting to drive a race-winning car, not to mention Toyota not offering a large enough salary.
On 17 November 2009, his manager Steve Robertson confirmed that Räikkönen would not drive in Formula One in the 2010 season. But during 2010 itself, rumours emerged once again about another possible Räikkönen comeback this time with the Renault team in 2011. This followed a resurgence in Renault's form, and the fact that the Russian Vitaly Petrov had yet to be re-signed like team-mate Robert Kubica.
Team principal Éric Boullier claimed he had been contacted by Räikkönen in connection with a possible return, but said that although he was flattered by Räikkönen's alleged display of interest:
"I would have to speak personally with him first, look him in the eyes to see if I see enough motivation there for him to return to F1. It doesn't make sense to hire somebody, even a former world champion, if you cannot be sure that his motivation is still 100%. Why should you invest in somebody who leaves you guessing?"
However Räikkönen angrily shot down the suggestion that he would race, claiming that Renault had simply used his name for "their own marketing purposes".
In the week before the 2011 Singapore Grand Prix, several news sources reported that Räikkönen was eyeing a return to Formula One for the 2012 season with Williams F1 after he was spotted at the team's headquarters in Grove, Oxfordshire. Several reports went so far as to suggest that Räikkönen had entered preliminary negotiations with the team. However, the team refused to comment on the reports, with driver Rubens Barrichello dismissing them as rumour and speculation. On 29 November 2011, it was announced that Räikkönen would be returning to Formula 1 in 2012, signing a two-year contract with Lotus.
Räikkönen began the season by qualifying 17th for the Australian Grand Prix after making a mistake on his last flying lap. However he recovered his weekend during the race the next day, as he made a good start to move up to twelfth, before making it into the top ten. He took three places on the last lap of the race, to finish in seventh place.
In the dry qualifying session for the 2012 Malaysian Grand Prix Räikkönen qualified in 5th place. He started the race from 10th place because of an unscheduled gearbox change. In the race he had the opportunity to try Pirelli's wet-weather tyres for the first time. He finished the race in 5th despite being inexperienced with Pirelli's wet-weather tyres compared to most of the other drivers.
At the 2012 Chinese Grand Prix he was 14th after running 2nd before being overtaken by 10 cars in the space of one lap, due to a mistake in tyre strategy, expecting the Pirelli tyres to last longer in the last stint.
At the 2012 Bahrain Grand Prix he finished second starting from 11th position on the grid. It was his first podium and his best finish of this comeback.
Three weeks later, Räikkönen finished third at the 2012 Spanish Grand Prix, after having qualified in fifth place, which had been promoted to fourth as a result of a penalty given to Lewis Hamilton.
In Monaco Räikkönen qualified in 8th but finished one place lower in 9th place.
For the 2012 Canadian Grand Prix Räikkönen again had a bad qualifying session finishing 12th. He was able to finish 8th in the race taking, as he stated, "important championship points".
In the 2012 European Grand Prix at the Valencia Street Circuit he finished second behind Fernando Alonso.
In the 2012 British Grand Prix he finished fifth, after having qualified in sixth place.
During qualifying for the 2012 German Grand Prix, Räikkönen had good pace in Q1 with the harder set of tyres and was looking good for a potential shot at a higher grid place. At the start of Q2 the rain was already heavy meaning that Räikkönen lost the advantage he had in dry conditions. In the wet Q3 session he qualified in 10th place. Good pace in dry conditions from the qualifying session was proven in the race as Räikkönen succeeded to finish 4th, and eventually gaining the last podium spot after Sebastian Vettel was penalised for an illegal overtaking manoeuvre.
For the 2012 Hungarian Grand Prix Räikkönen qualified 5th. He lost fifth place at the start to Fernando Alonso due to a KERS issue on his E20 car. He succeeded in gaining a position over Alonso during the first round of pit-stops, and later did the same to Button and Vettel during the second round. He finished the race in 2nd place, just one second behind the race winner Lewis Hamilton.
After a 5-week long summer break, the much speculated introduction of a 'Drag Reduction Device' by Lotus F1 team has been delayed due to bad weather conditions on Friday for the 2012 Belgian Grand Prix. That didn't stop Räikkönen from qualifying fourth. He went on to finish 3rd behind Jenson Button and Sebastian Vettel.
A week later at 2012 Italian Grand Prix at Monza, Räikkönen qualified 7th and finished the race in 5th. At the 2012 Singapore Grand Prix, Räikkönen qualified 12th as his Lotus E20 couldn't match the pace of the top 3 teams and eventually finished 6th.
At 2012 Japanese Grand Prix, Räikkönen qualified 8th after spinning at his final attempt in Q3 and finished 6th after being passed by McLaren's Lewis Hamilton after the second round of pit stops.
Next in 2012 Korean Grand Prix saw the introduction of a coanda style exhaust system and several other minor updates to the Lotus E20 which, Lotus team boss Eric Boullier regraded as a new era in his team's development race. Räikkönen eventually qualified 5th and finished the race in 5th after an impressive battle with McLaren's Lewis Hamilton which ended in Räikkönen's favour. Even though he was 48 points behind the championship leader Sebastian Vettel after 16 rounds of the 2012 Formula One season, Räikkönen said he takes inspiration from the 2007 Formula One season which he won at the last round in 2007 Brazilian Grand Prix after McLaren's Lewis Hamilton suffered gearbox problems.
At the 2012 Indian Grand Prix, Räikkönen qualified in 7th place. He couldn't manage to improve his starting position because of a lack of top speed on the straights. After this race, the contract with Lotus F1 was extended for 2013 due to the fact that the terms of options in the contract have been met.
On 4 November 2012, Räikkönen won his first race for the Lotus F1 team at the 2012 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix after a good start from fourth saw him take Pastor Maldonado and Mark Webber at the first corner. He was unable to match the pace of Hamilton, but a mechanical issue retired the McLaren and allowed Räikkönen to win the race, despite pressure from the Ferrari of Fernando Alonso in the closing stages.
Although he was now mathematically eliminated from the championship as a result of Vettel finishing 3rd, the name Lotus celebrated its first win since the 1987 Detroit Grand Prix which was won by Ayrton Senna.
Still third, Räikkönen was 16 points clear of Lewis Hamilton in the championship. But after Hamilton's pole position at the concluding race of 2012, Räikkönen would have to finish at least fifth in the race if Hamilton were to win. He qualified only ninth. On lap 52, Räikkönen, who had been in-and-out of the points frequently, made a mistake and went off the track and tried to use an escape road to re-enter the track rather than drive over the grass.
The road was blocked and he was forced to turn back. He lost numerous places and found himself behind a Caterham and a Marussia. He skidded again to be lapped, but re-claimed the lost places and with a retirement from Hamilton, finished the race in 10th and claimed his 3rd place in the standings, with a 1-point contribution to the tally. He ended the season 71 points behind Fernando Alonso and 74 points behind champion Sebastian Vettel.
On a French auto racing website, www.toileF1.com Räikkönen was named the driver of the year. In second place was Fernando Alonso.
Before 2012 was over, Lotus confirmed that Räikkönen would be racing with the team in 2013, after several weeks of speculation that Räikkönen had several other options for 2013, including other forms of motorsport.
On 17 March 2013 he won the first race of the season, the Australian Grand Prix despite starting from seventh, thanks to a two-stop strategy. He also set the fastest lap of the race on lap 56. He described the victory as one of his easiest wins.
Räikkönen qualified seventh in Malaysia, but was demoted three places for impeding Nico Rosberg during qualifying. He finished the race seventh, behind team-mate Grosjean, after damaging his car at the start.
At the Chinese Grand Prix, he qualified and finished second, despite having to regain the two places he lost at the start and having damaged the front of his car while battling Sergio Pérez for position. In the Bahrain Grand Prix he qualified ninth, but was promoted to eighth after Lewis Hamilton received a five-place grid penalty for an unscheduled gearbox change. He finished the race second ahead of his team-mate Romain Grosjean, with Sebastian Vettel winning the race.
The podium of the race was exactly same as in 2012. At the Spanish Grand Prix, Räikkönen started fourth and finished second thanks to a three-stop strategy. At the next race in Monaco, Räikkönen started fifth but an aggressive overtake by Pérez gave him a puncture and dropped him out of the points until a last-ditch attempt on the final lap where he overtook Esteban Gutiérrez, Valtteri Bottas and Nico Hülkenberg to gain tenth place. In the process, it continued his streak of 23 consecutive points finishes, one shy of the record of 24 set by Michael Schumacher across three seasons between 2001 and 2003.
With his Lotus struggling during the Canadian Grand Prix, Räikkönen finished ninth. On 30 June 2013 at the British Grand Prix, Räikkönen finished in the points for the 25th consecutive race, breaking Schumacher's record. He finished fifth but believed second place could have been possible had he pitted during the safety car period. The result kept him in third place in the championship.
At the German Grand Prix, Räikkönen qualified fourth and finished second, only a second behind Vettel with the help of the safety car. Räikkönen struggled in qualifying for the Hungarian Grand Prix, unable to capitalise on strong times earlier in the weekend. He qualified sixth but finished second – for the fifth time at the circuit – holding off a last minute charge from Vettel with fresher tyres. The result promoted him to second in the Drivers' Championship, one point ahead of Fernando Alonso and 38 points behind championship leader, Vettel.
At the Belgian Grand Prix, Räikkönen finished fastest in Q2 but struggled during the wetter final session, qualifying 8th behind his teammate. Although Räikkönen did gain some places in the race, he was eventually forced to retire with a brake related issue on lap 27, ending the Finn's record-breaking run – also numbering 27 – of consecutive points finishes. The DNF also ended his chances of beating the most consecutive race finishes – a record held by Nick Heidfeld at 41 finishes – Räikkönen recorded 38.
He failed to score again at the Italian Grand Prix after losing his front wing at the start. He managed to make his way up the order, but was unable to pass Jenson Button for a point scoring position. On the week following the race, it was announced that Räikkönen would not continue with Lotus for the 2014 season, and instead join Fernando Alonso at Ferrari. Before the following Singapore Grand Prix, it was revealed that Räikkönen had not been paid salary by Lotus for the whole season, meaning there were several million euros of outstanding fees. Räikkönen publicly cited this as the reason for leaving Lotus for Ferrari.
In the Singapore GP, Räikkönen had recurring back problems during the practice sessions, which at first put his participation in the race in question. He qualified only 13th, but was still able to return to the podium, clawing to the third place partly thanks to a safety car intervention in the middle of the race. At the Japanese Grand Prix, he qualified 9th and finished 5th.
Two weeks later, at the Indian Grand Prix, Räikkönen qualified 6th. In the race, he opted for a one-stop tyre strategy, placing him in the second place at the closing stages of the Grand Prix. However, during the final few laps, his pace was more than a second slower than those chasing him, including Nico Rosberg and Räikkönen's Lotus teammate Romain Grosjean. With eight laps remaining, Rosberg was able to take over Räikkönen for second. Grosjean then caught up with Räikkönen on the fourth last lap, but was not immediately able to pass him. At this point, the Lotus trackside operations director Alan Permane had a profane and heated radio exchange with Räikkönen, commanding him to move out of the way. The radio conversation was widely noted in the press, raising questions about the health of his relationship with the team. Räikkönen eventually finished 7th after stopping for new tyres with only two laps to go.
In the following Abu Dhabi Grand Prix questions about Räikkönen's relationship with his team were further fueled by his absence from the usual Thursday media events. Räikkönen had reportedly only left his home at the last moment to make it to the Grand Prix after considering not racing at all in the event.
On Friday, Räikkönen then publicly threatened that he would not continue to race with Lotus in the remaining two Grands Prix of the season after Abu Dhabi unless the salary dispute was resolved. In the Saturday's qualifying, Räikkönen made it to 5th, but was demoted to the 22nd and last grid spot due to his E21 car failing a post-qualifying floor deflection test.
In the race, he immediately made contact with Giedo van der Garde's Caterham in the first corner of the first lap and broke his Lotus's right front suspension, forcing Räikkönen to retire on the first lap for the first time since the 2006 United States Grand Prix. Following the race, it was announced that Lotus and Räikkönen had reached a provisional agreement on the salary dispute that would see Räikkönen race for the team during the remainder of the season as the investment group Quantum Motorsports said that they had concluded long-running negotiations with Lotus for acquisition of a share in the team, providing the team with financial security.
However, a week before the following United States Grand Prix, it was announced that Räikkönen would nevertheless miss the rest of the season, having elected to have back surgery for the problems that had troubled him in the Singapore Grand Prix. For the remaining two Grands Prix, Räikkönen would be replaced at Lotus by fellow Finn Heikki Kovalainen.
On 11 September 2013, it was confirmed that Räikkönen had agreed a 2-year deal to return to Ferrari (where he won the championship in 2007), starting from 2014. He revealed that it was for monetary reasons that he left Lotus.
A rule change for the 2014 season allowed drivers to pick a unique car number that they will use for their entire F1 career. Räikkönen however decided to retain the #7 car number he used for Lotus during the 2013 season as "It's the number I already had last year and I saw no reason to change it".
After a mostly disappointing first half of the season, Räikkönen had a return to form at the first race back after the summer break in Belgium, where a good strategy and a series of fastest laps earned him fourth place, his best result of the season. It was also the first time Räikkönen had finished higher in a race than Alonso in 2014. The rest of the season continued like it had been in the beginning (mostly finishing behind Alonso).
In 2015 Räikkönen will have a better car because the car will be more designed for him and not Alonso. His new teammate will be Sebastian Vettel who's driving style is similar to Kimi's so that will help as well. It will also be easier to see who is faster. Kimi or Sebastian?
