Lotus team principal Eric Boullier has said that decision on who will replace Kimi Raikkonen next year is on hold until the team has sorted out its financial situation.

Raikkonen left Lotus to join Ferrari after he grew frustrated with the Lotus team not being able to give him assurances about their budget.

Lotus team principal Eric Boullier has revealed that the priority for Lotus now is to finalise a deal with new investors Infinity Racing, which has been in the pipeline for several months now.

Boullier has said that he can only make an informed decision about who to pick to replace Raikkonen once he knows what the Lotus team’s finances are like going forward.

Nico Hulkenberg seemed set to be chosen to fill the Lotus seat but recently Felipe Massa also became a contender after confirming that he will be leaving Ferrari.

Boullier spoke openly to Autosport, saying, “I want to finish what we wanted to show to Kimi, but we could not get done in time,” referring to his efforts to finalise the Infinity deal.

“I want to close this, because it is important for the team. It will give it the financial stability for more than five years and it will give us also two steps forward in terms of revenue, which is what we need after the last two years that were up and down

“After that, we can then think about the drivers for next year – but also for 2015, 2016, and 2017.”

Despite rumours that Felipe Massa will bring major financial backing, Boullier has denied any knowledge of this and is adamant that he wants to be able to choose a driver based on merit, rather than on the sponsorship they could bring to the Lotus team.

“I want to close the financial situation to make sure that we pick the driver on merit,” he said. “And then, if we are an attractive team with an attractive combination of drivers and we can get some sponsors, fine. But that is not the priority.”

Photo by the Lotus F1 Twitter Team.