Raikkonen - 'perhaps I'll go to Monaco GP'

For now at least, Kimi Raikkonen has eyes only for his new rally foray.

The Finn agreed a settlement with Ferrari this year to end his contract early, turned down a solid McLaren offer, and subsequently signed up with Red Bull backing to do the full 2010 World Rally calendar at the wheel of a Citroen C4.

Asked in an interview published in German by the Red Bulletin, 30-year-old Raikkonen admitted he is currently not overly interested in F1.

"Perhaps for fun I'll go to the (2010) Monaco Grand Prix. As it looks now, I would get another F1 cockpit.

"But do I want it?" wondered the 2007 world champion, who won 18 of his 157 career Grands Prix since 2001.

"What's happening in Formula One at the moment are unpleasant things; manufacturers leaving one after another or selling their teams.

"I'm glad I don't have to worry about it (F1) at the moment," Raikkonen said. "In a year, we'll talk."

Comparing F1 with his newly chosen sport, he said: "In F1 there's too much politics behind it, no-one says what he thinks because he's afraid it's taken out of context.

"The atmosphere of the rally is much nicer. It's more about the performance of the drivers."

Raikkonen admits his pre-season feeling reminds him of early 2001, when as a 20-year-old he made his F1 debut with Sauber with only a handful of formative car races under his belt.

"There is a little bit of the young Kimi in me again, yes," he said. "I'm curious and excited.

"In F1, each lap is more or less the same. When it rains it becomes more difficult, but otherwise it's routine. In rallying, every curve, every hill may be different than you thought. That makes it interesting."