Raikkonen not ruling out Red Bull move

Kimi Raikkonen has refused to rule out the chance that he could leave Lotus for Red Bull at the end of the season.

There may well have only been two races so far in this 2013 Formula One World Championship, but with the Red Bull fall out as it is, it’s become pretty clear that the rumblings over who will be Sebastian Vettel’s team-mate for 2014 will continue throughout the year.

The Malaysian Grand Prix brought a huge fall out amongst Formula One’s current constructors champions, while F1 champion Sebastian Vettel has had ‘a lot to answer to’ following his decision to ignore team-orders and affectively stab team-mate Mark Webber in the back to steal victory in Sepang.

Many questioned whether or not Mark Webber still had a future at Red Bull following the weekends events, but he went off calmed down back in his native Australia and will complete the remainder of the season with the team.

With Webber only ever signing one-year contracts with the team, its always up for debate where Webber will end up season after season. Last year he held talks with Ferrari before signing a new deal with Red Bull.

But what does 2014 hold for 36-year-old and Red Bull?

Even before the weekends high jinx, Webber’s future wasn’t certain, the Red Bull development programme has stuttered in recent years with Webber holding up the progress of the likes of Jean-Eric Vergne and Daniel Ricciardo, who want to follow in the footsteps of Sebastian Vettel in progressing from Toro Rosso and into the Red Bull team.

With Webber’s partnership with Red Bull set to come to an end, which way will Red Bull turn for 2014?

Will they finally promote from within and allow someone to follow in the footsteps of Vettel? Or will they look elsewhere?

Red Bull owner Dietrich Mateschitz would appear to fancy teaming up three-time champ Vettel, with 2007 World Champion Kimi Raikkonen, telling German magazine Speedweek: ‘Kimi is cool and fast and always a candidate,

With Kimi Raikkonen seemingly at ease with life at Lotus, some thought that the Finn would prefer to stay with the team that gave him a second chance in Formula One after two years in the wilderness in Rallying.

He has now won twice with his newly adopted team and they seem the perfect match, with both having a relaxed laid back approach in comparison to the likes of Ferrari and McLaren where Kimi has previously raced.

‘There’s always other homes in Formula 1, that’s normal. I don’t have a contract for next year and I have no plans, We’ll see what happens. It’s only two races old the season, so I’ll try to do this year well and see what happens next year.’ Kimi told Sky Sports when asked about the speculation.

But not only would he refuse to play down the links with Red Bull, he also played down his relationship with his current team.

‘Like I’ve always said, all the teams are different and I have had a pretty good time at all the teams. They all have a different way of running and I try and achieve the same results, I wouldn’t say this is much better than other places. I’ve never really had problems at any team I’ve been to. It’s just a different place.’