While any dynamic between Raikkonen and Vettel on the track promises to be
ferocious, the two are close friends and regularly play badminton together.
The German’s relationship with team-mate Webber, by contrast, has been
fractured beyond repair by his flouting of orders in Malaysia and the two
are still not even on speaking teams. Webber is due to meet Red Bull owner
Dietrich Mateschitz next month for contract negotiations but the Australian
is unlikely to be offered any extension.
Raikkonen, who left Formula
One in 2010 to embark upon a two-year rallying stint, would be an
ideal fit for Red Bull’s corporate ethos of adventure and audacity. G
erard Lopez, Lotus’ owner, expressed confidence yesterday that his team could
still keep hold of their star name, arguing: “So long as we can give Kimi a
good competitive car, he will be with us.” But such a prediction sat
uncomfortably alongside recent remarks in Germany by Mercedes chairman Niki
Lauda, who said: “If I was Red Bull and wanted to change something with the
drivers, then I would definitely go for Kimi. He is the best driver on the
market by far.”
The season might be only four races old, ahead of its return here to Europe
for Sunday’s Spanish Grand Prix, but machinations for 2014 are rife at the
front of the grid.
Vettel was pressed yesterday on a suggestion that he was a target for
Mercedes, after the team’s sporting director Helmut Marko was quoted as
claiming Lauda “should absolutely be trying to get him”. But Vettel brushed
off the link, saying: “I was surprised when I read it. It’s pretty funny.”
Meanwhile, Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso, preparing to shoulder the expectation of
90,000 Spaniards at his home grand prix, maintained he was undaunted by the
30-point deficit to Vettel in the drivers’ standings.
“Last year we were 1.5 seconds behind the top cars, but this year it’s a very
different feeling,” he said. “We are more optimistic, because we have a
different package and have finished two races without problems. Now we need
to be more consistent.”
Vettel’s dominant victory in Bahrain last month has spread alarm that he could
already be heading for his fourth successive world title, in the same
commanding fashion that he displayed in 2011.
“We can extremely happy about how competitive we have been,” acknowledged the
25-year-old, seeking to join Michael Schumacher, Juan Manuel Fangio and
Alain Prost as only the fourth F1 driver ever to be anointed a quadruple
champion.