F1: James Allison's departure from Lotus hits Kimi Raikkonen's title chances

Kimi Raikkonen’s Lotus was fastest in the second practice (Getty Images)

Kimi Raikkonen's bid to win the World Championship for a second time has been dented by the shock announcement that Lotus's highly rated technical director James Allison is leaving the team.

The announcement, before the first race of the European season in Spain this weekend, will be seen as a blow for Finnish driver Raikkonen, the 2007 world champion, who is second in the standings to Red Bull's triple world champion Sebastian Vettel.

Allison has been with British-based Lotus, previously Renault, since 2005 after previous stints in the 1990s when they raced as Benetton.