Kimi retained by Ferrari

Kimi Raikkonen's contract with the Ferrari team has been extended until the end of the 2010 season ending speculation about his future.

The Finn's deal had been due to expire at the end of 2009 and there had been rumours that the team were looking to replace him with Fernando Alonso either then or the year after.

However, Ferrari have now stated their driver line-up will remain unchanged for the next two seasons with Felipe Massa's contract also being extended until 2010.

Raikkonen has endured a string of unconvincing performances so far this season, looking a shadow of the driver that enjoyed a terrific late surge last term to eventually land the drivers' title.

The 28-year-old is the highest-paid driver in F1, but has continually been outperformed by Massa this time of asking and currently lies in third in the standings behind his Brazilian teammate and McLaren's Lewis Hamilton.

Raikkonen has so far made no secret of the fact he has no plans to aid Massa's title shot while he can mathematically still win it himself although it remains to be seen if that has changed given the new contracts.