Kimi Raikkonen says he has nothing to lose in his negotiations for a 2010 Formula 1 drive and sees no reason to compromise just to stay on the grid.
Ferrari has reached a settlement with Raikkonen allowing the two parties to split a year before his contract was due to expire, with Fernando Alonso coming across from Renault to take his place for 2010.
Having reportedly turned down a Toyota offer, Raikkonen is now expected to return to his former team McLaren, but there have been suggestions that disagreements over money have slowed the progress of talks.
The Finn has previously hinted that he could take a sabbatical from F1 or switch to the World Rally Championship – where he impressed greatly in a one-off appearance in Finland earlier this year – if he does not secure a 2010 seat.
Amid suggestions that Ferrari will still be paying Raikkonen a salary next year as part of their agreement, the 2007 champion said he was quite happy to hold out for a 'perfect' deal.
"I have options and I still want to be here [in F1], but everything needs to be perfect," he said.
"I have no reason to make any contract that I don't feel 100 per cent happy with.
"So we'll see what happens."
McLaren team boss Martin Whitmarsh would not drawn on how discussions with Raikkonen were progressing.
"The state of play is that we haven't made a decision," he replied when asked if a 2010 driver announcement was close.
"I think we will in the next few weeks."
He said McLaren had preferred not to put too much emphasis on its future choice of second driver – Lewis Hamilton already being committed to a long-term deal – until this year's championship was over.
"The team has worked very hard after a poor start to the season, we wanted to be the best team in the second half of the championship, we didn't want to be distracted from that task, and we wanted to show appropriate respect to our drivers," Whitmarsh explained.