Finland's Kimi Raikkonen denied being unhappy at Ferrari on Thursday and brushed aside rumours that the Italian team could bring in Spain's Fernando Alonso to replace him.
"The rumours about Alonso coming to Ferrari to replace me? I'm fine where I am. These rumours don't interest me," he said at a press conference ahead of this weekend's French Grand Prix.
After winning the season-opening Grand Prix in Australia, Raikkonen's best results have been two third places. He is now fourth in the drivers' standings, 26 points adrift of championship leader Lewis Hamilton, McLaren's new-found 'wonderboy'.
Ferrari boss Luca Cordero di Montezemolo was recently quoted in the Italian press as saying he was still waiting for "the real Raikkonen" to emerge.
The Finn is reportedly the highest-paid driver in Formula 1. He moved to Ferrari after seven-times world champ Michael Schumacher left and hopes were high that he would follow in the German's footsteps.
Raikkonen's former boss at McLaren, Ron Dennis, has been quoted as saying he thinks the 27-year-old driver is "suffering" at Ferrari.
Meanwhile, reigning world champ Alonso indicated he was not entirely comfortable at McLaren earlier this month by complaining that his team-mate Hamilton was getting "all the support and help".
This immediately led to speculation that the Spanish double world champion might be looking for a new team next year.
But Raikkonen dismissed such talk as idle chatter on Thursday as he prepared for this weekend's race at Magny-Cours.
He also appeared confident that his run of poor results was about to end. He said recent tests at Silverstone in England had enabled technicians to improve his F2007 car considerably.
"Last week we did some good tests. I think we have improved, although it's impossible to say whether we've improved enough to win," he said.
Ferrari goes into this weekend's French Grand Prix needing a victory over McLaren to put its championship challenge back on track.
After seeing Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso dominate in the last three races, the Italian team trails McLaren by 35 points in the constructors' standings.
