2007 Formula One World Champion Kimi Raikkonen will not be partnering Triple F1 World title holder Sebastian Vettel at Red Bull next season.
The Lotus driver and Red Bull had been in talks over the empty seat at Red Bull Racing following the announcement that Mark Webber would be retiring from Formula One at the end of this season.
Throughout all the speculation the talk surrounding who would replace Webber revolved around two men, Raikkonen and Toro Rosso driver Daniel Ricciardo.
There appeared to be two main points of interest within the Red Bull team over who they would appoint as their driver. Some members of the team wanted to see the fastest driver possible added to the team, whilst others wanted to see progress with the Red Bull drivers development programme.
Whilst Australian Daniel Ricciardo remained an option, from the outside looking in, he always appeared to be second choice behind Kimi Raikkonen.
But for whatever reason it would seem that the path has now been cleared for Ricciardo to be announced as a Red Bull driver as soon as this weekend in Belgium.
This turn of events has come about following the announcement by Raikkonen’s manager Steve Robertson that talks between Kimi and Red Bull ended some time ago.
‘Talks broke down. We haven’t spoken for a little while and it’s clear Kimi won’t be driving for Red Bull in 2014. he told the BBC.
‘Kimi’s a free agent. He still has options out there.
‘There’s a lot of things happening behind the scenes and I’m pretty confident he will be in F1 next year.’
Red Bull Racing however refused to comment on the news, merely adding: ‘We don’t have anything to announce at present but will advise when we do.’
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