© Autosport

Kimi Raikkonen has revealed that his only real opportunity to remain in Formula 1 next year is to complete a deal with McLaren. The Finn is a free agent after this season, having agreed an early end to his contract with Ferrari, yet he has not yet firmed up his plans for 2010.

He has been linked with moves to both McLaren and Toyota next year - but he revealed ahead of Abu Dhabi that there was only one real chance for him if he was going to remain in F1. "Toyota has not even been discussed," Raikkonen told Finnish television station MTV3. "If I want to drive [F1] cars, then McLaren in the only option. I should know the situation in the next few days."

Raikkonen said in the official FIA press conference in Abu Dhabi that there were other options for him outside of F1 – including rallying or even a sabbatical.

Transcript of the FIA press conference (© FIA):

Queston: What are your reactions to seeing the Yas Island Circuit for the first time. The facilities? The circuit?

Kimi: I have only seen the paddock area so far. I haven’t been around the circuit yet. It looks all new and you can see a bit that it is last minute but, overall, it is a very big, massive thing and it will be one of the nicest when everything is ready.

Question: Kimi, what are your thoughts on leaving Ferrari?

Kimi: Well, it is not any different than a few races ago. I don’t have a contract anymore with them. It is the last race and we try to make a good result and we will see what happens in the future.

Question: Is your focus totally on Formula One or would you like to pursue your rallying career?

Kimi: Basically I have a few different options and we will see what is the best one overall and then make my decision.

Question: Would rallying be a consideration?

Kimi: It is definitely one of them, but I mean it is not just Formula One and rallying. There are other things I could do and we will see what happens.

Question: Just looking back at the second part of the season. You have only scored two points less than the person who has scored the most points. Considering that development has stopped on the car it is a pretty remarkable record, isn’t it?

Kimi: Yeah, I think we had a good second half. The car is definitely not the fastest but we found a pretty good way of working with the car and getting the best out of. It has been more normal to drive than for a long time before. Once you get something that you have a good feeling with, then usually you get good results. The bigger teams or the better teams who have been faster this year should have done better; better cars, better results and better points overall in the last part but they haven’t and I think we did pretty well.

Question: It seems almost unfair that the focus has been on your team-mates and how fast they have been going whereas you have been racking up points all the time.

Kimi: It makes no difference for me really. I don’t think they have been going very fast and they can talk to them as much as they want. We just try to score points and get good results. That has been our aim and is still our aim in the last race and hopefully we can get a bit more than McLaren.

Question: (Dan Knutson – National Speed Sport News) Jean Todt is the new President of the FIA. What would you like to see him achieve and accomplish for Formula One?

Kimi: I think he is going to do good work. I think he is a good guy for this work and he is very straightforward and not too much politics. But I know from working with him that he is going to be the right guy.

Question: (Chris Lines – Associated Press) Question for you all about the late start: starting in the afternoon, going into the evening. We had a situation in Australia, first race of the year, with a similar kind of timing. Towards the end of the race there were complaints from the drivers about the sun getting in their eyes, complaints about the track cooling down, so the grip wasn’t as good. Do you have concerns here for the same reasons?

Kimi: I don’t think there will be any problems. Of course, it might look a little bit different at some point when the sun disappears but the lights, at least in Singapore, were so good that you hardly see the difference between day and night. Here, it will be quite hot anyhow, so it should be OK.

Question: (Andrea Cremonesi – La Gazzetta dello Sport) Kimi, we heard something about you taking a sabbatical next year in 2010. Is that true, it’s an option or not?

Kimi: I can if I want. I can do whatever I want, but like I said before, I haven’t made my decision what I want to do yet.

Question: (Joris Fioriti – AFP) Do you think, the four of you, that Jenson Button is a good champion for the sport, or just that he had the best car this year?

Kimi: Yeah, he had the most points, also at the end of the season but whoever gets the most points deserves it, so he’s definitely the right man for that.

Question: (Flavio Vanetti – Corriere dello Sport) Kimi, what would like to tell Fernando as he’s joining Ferrari to replace you?

Kimi: I don’t think I need to tell him anything; for sure he will find out. He’s been in Formula One a long time and he’s not going to have any issues there. I think he’s probably been there before and met the people already, so there’s not much to say.

Question: (Jonathan Legard – BBC Sport) Question for Kimi: you talk about your options. I just wondered how important it would be if you decided to stay in Formula One, if you found another team, that you could do some rallying as well, like you did with Ferrari or whether that’s something of a stumbling block, wanting to do another form of motor sport as well as doing Formula One?

Kimi: It’s definitely going to be Formula One, it’s going to be in the contract that I’m allowed to do it (rallying). It’s not going to hurt you. Any kind of driving is always going to give you some experience, so I don’t see what’s the issue. It’s been working well this year, so as long as it doesn’t disturb what you’re doing in Formula One or whatever you do, I don’t see that there’s any problem.

Question: (Joris Fioriti – AFP) Both championships have been settled. Will this race be the last opportunity to show yourselves, the ones that don’t have a team for next year?

Kimi: You always try to do your best – at least, I try and it’s the same story in the last race: we try to get back third place in the championship for the team. I think it’s a bit late if you only try to do your best in the last race to try to prove yourself to some other team, then you shouldn’t be there. It’s the same story as any race this year: we try to do the maximum.