2nd Red Bull seat

[driveace]

But would Kimi obey team orders ?I think NOT!

[J4MIE]

But would Kimi obey team orders ?I think NOT!

No different to Vettel then?

[RedBullian1]

No different to Vettel then?

I don't think they'll talk to him since he knows what he's doing

[keysersoze]

Vergne is probably quicker in a shoot out, but Ricciardo has a much better racing brain and can bring the car home.

The stats indicate the opposite. Ricciardo is winning the qualifying shootout by a significant margin, yet JEV has scored more points, last season as well as this season (to date).

[Mia 01]

As we can see Mercedes is gaining on RBR at the moment, they got two reasonably good drivers and can with a bit of luck take the WCC this year. I think RBR wants the WCC. In the same car at race day, Kimi is not slower than Seb.

[steveaki13]

Take Mercedes season by season and its made real progress to now be 2nd in the championship.

So I think Red Bull needs to take on a driver who can win races and help the team next year. They cant allow any driver to take half a season to settle in.

[jens]

Räikkönen seems to be plan A for Red Bull. Plan B is a Toro Rosso driver.
What is plan A for Räikkönen - Lotus or RBR? He could be leaning towards RBR. If that is the case, we just need to wait for the official announcement...

The only aspect RBR may be pondering about Kimi's signing is the long-term future. Because Vettel could potentially leave after 2015 (after having recently signed a new one-year extension) and in 2016 Räikkönen would be 36 years old already. So RBR would need a new, young and upcoming driver soon anyway depending on the long-term motivation of Vettel to drive for RBR.

I think Red Bull feels that hiring Räikkönen for 2014 would be good for short-term future and WCC - proven driver, who will get you lots of points. But RBR may also feel that they can't let some of their youngsters go as easily like the let Alguersuari. Which means that they need to keep grooming say Ricciardo, avoid him getting snapped up by other teams, so he would be a good and consistent driver by 2016 to join the team.

Depending on whether Kimi wants to carry on in his mid-to-late 30's, they may actually need two drivers... Of course, by 2015-16 there may be more quality-drivers on the market, like Hamilton and Rosberg, so they may not need to worry too much.

[webberf1]

Ricciardo has given Vergne a smashing in quali in the last couple of races. The only reason Vergne seems to come back in the races a little is because he never makes it into Q3 so he has a fresher set of softs.

[andyone]

they should put a dislike button on forums as well. we need that

[zako85]

Räikkönen seems to be plan A for Red Bull. Plan B is a Toro Rosso driver.

But does Toro Rosso have enough money to hire Raikkonen?