APRIL 23, 2001
Raikkonen races on
SAUBER's young star Kimi Raikkonen will continue to race on despite no announcement on his superlicence.
The Finn is racing on a provisional superlicence after being allowed into Formula One despite a career record of just 23 car races.
But confusion surrounds the duration of his probation after several different reports on the matter, and the FIA, his manager Steve Robertson, and his Sauber team all have different ideas on the situation.
Before the start of the season, Peter Sauber, manager of Raikkonen's team, said that the young star's superlicence would be under review after the fourth race of the season in San Marino.
With that over, however, the FIA have remained quiet on the matter, and no-one connected with the young star has been contacted.
Robertson said: "We have heard nothing about that, and the team has heard nothing, so I assume everything is okay.
"There would be uproar if they decided to take Kimi Raikkonen out of Formula One right now."
The FIA regulations state that every new driver receives his superlicence on a probationary period of one year, but Raikkonen received his licence under exceptional circumstances.
The governing body have confirmed that this means he will have his performance reviewed after every three months during his first Grand Prix year, but could not reveal when the superlicence was issued.
However, a spokesperson confirmed it is extremely unlikely that the licence would be taken away considering Raikkonen's superb performances during the season so far, and added that the probation automatically continues unless there are any problems.