Raikkonen's race engineer confirmed

Ferrari has confirmed that Antonio Spagnolo will take on the role of race engineer with Kimi Raikkonen when he makes his return to Maranello next season.

Spagnolo will take up the role having been part of Fernando Alonso's engineering team in 2013, with the two men who had previously held the role during Raikkonen's first spell with the team now in other positions.

Chris Dyer, who was alongside Raikkonen when he lifted the 2007 title, is no longer part of the Ferrari team, while Andrea Stella now works with Fernando Alonso in a partnership that had been referred to as 'unbreakable' earlier this year.

Raikkonen's engineer at Lotus, Mark Slade, hasn't joined the Finn in making the move to Ferrari, while Rob Smedley - who held the role alongside Felipe Massa - is expected to follow the Brazilian to Williams.

News of Raikkonen's new engineer came after the Finn made a visit to Maranello to meet members of the Ferrari team and also 'go over the state of play on the design of the 2014 car'.