Lotus investors claim "Kimi Raikkonen issue is now resolved"

“All issues resolved with Kimi” says Lotus investor

Ferrari bound Kimi Raikkonen had threatened Lotus that he would skip the final two races of the season if the team failed to pay him his wages.

However, in a strange turn of events, Mansoor Ijaz, chairman of a consortium of private investors buying a 35 percent stake in the team, told reporters at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix that talks with the 2007 world champion’s manager had prevented a potential walkout.

“I met with Kimi’s manager last night, Steve Robertson…I’ve apologised to Steve, we’ve apologised to Kimi,” said Ijaz.

“We intend to not only make sure that they (the unpaid wages) are made whole, and then some, we are intending to also compensate our employees and management team.

“I am confident that he (Raikkonen) will run the last two races and fulfill his professional obligations to us and us to him,” added the U.S.-based businessman.

Kimi retired after a first-lap collision in Abu Dhabi and told reporters he had considered not competing because of unpaid wages and other issues.

Lotus team principal Eric Boullier told reporters separately that the problems with his driver had been resolved but would not go into details.

“I cannot say anything about what has been agreed because this is confidential between both parties but it is all settled,” he added.

“We’re going to clear off the debt, and then we’re going to bring very high quality sponsors which you’ll see very soon,” he assured reporters.

“Those sponsors will give us the longevity and capacity to compete at the top end of the business for a long time.

“They (the team) are going to pay a lot of bills this week, let’s put it that way. We’ve asked them to make sure things get paid as quickly as possible.”