Staying put - Ferrari keeps Kimi Raikkonen alongside Sebastian Vettel for 2017 F1 season

Ferrari will retain Kimi Raikkonen for the 2017 Formula 1 season, it was announced today.

The Finn will partner Sebastian Vettel for a third successive season, which will be the fourth year of his second stint with the Scuderia.

Raikkonen, who won the 2007 world title with the Italian team during his first period of racing for Ferrari that ended in 2009, was widely expected to be dropped at the end of the current season.

However, a strong first half of the year, which has yielded four podium finishes, 96 points – the same total as Vettel heading into this weekend’s British Grand Prix – and his positive relationship with the German driver have all combined to help Raikkonen earn a 15th year in F1.

Ferrari released a brief statement this morning to end speculation over its 2017 driver line-up.

It said: “Scuderia Ferrari announces that it has renewed its technical and racing agreement with Kimi Raikkonen.

“The driver line-up for the 2017 racing season will still consist of the Finnish driver and Sebastian Vettel.”

Vettel tests ‘halo two’

During winter testing earlier this season, Ferrari tested the halo cockpit protection device and Vettel drove with an update version of the structure during the first practice session at Silverstone.

The four times world champion completed one installation lap with the device attached to his SF16-H, after Ferrari conducted stationary driver extraction tests at last weekend’s Austrian Grand Prix.

The halo is expected to appear on all F1 cars in 2017, while the FIA’s safety research partner, the Global Institute for Motor Sport Safety, conducts more tests on Red Bull’s rival Aeroscreen concept, which was fitted to Daniel Ricciardo’s car during FP1 at the Russian Grand Prix.

The halo was removed from Vettel’s car for the rest of FP1, where he went on to finish fourth, 0.847s behind pacesetter Lewis Hamilton best lap of 1m31.654s, with Raikkonen a further half second back in sixth.