Raikkonen casts doubt on F1 future

By Alan Baldwin

BARCELONA (Reuters) - Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen has criticised plans to introduce a two-tier Formula One championship next year and fuelled speculation about his future in the sport beyond 2010.

"This is not F1 any more," the 2007 world champion told the BBC in an interview to be broadcast before Sunday's Spanish Grand Prix and published on their website (www.bbc.co.uk).

"I'm happy where I am now, I have a contract for next year then it's more or less my decision what I want to do," added the Finn, who qualified a disappointing 16th after failing to progress through Saturday's first session at the Circuit de Catalunya.

"We'll see how it goes and how F1 is going. There are a lot of question marks. Nobody seems to know what kind of rules we are going to get.

"I will definitely finish my contract but I'm not in a hurry and we'll wait and see," added Raikkonen, whose future has been subjected to renewed media speculation since his lacklustre 2008 season.

Renault's double world champion Fernando Alonso has been repeatedly linked to the Ferrari seat, despite both Raikkonen and Brazilian Felipe Massa having contracts for 2010.

The governing International Automobile Federation (FIA) has announced plans for teams to compete under an optional 40-million-pound ($60.19-million) cost cap next year.

Those who accept will be given greater technical freedom than those on unlimited budgets, to encourage new entrants and keep existing ones.