After James Allison's departure from Lotus, Kimi Raikkonen's move to Red Bull now seems imminent. SkySports is reporting that talks are already being held between Red Bull and Raikkonen's management.
James Allison was the main contributing factor to Lotus' recent success. Having lost their technical director, Lotus will certainly have troubles keeping Raikkonen for next year. The Finn had a lot of respect for Allison and his departure will set things in motion regarding the 2007 world champion's move to Red Bull in 2014.
Raikkonen has been backed by numerous F1 pundits to join Red Bull in 2014. The team have a solid resource base and with Adrian Newey as the mastermind, they will likely be in contention for the world title for a few more years. Allison might be joining them and if that's the case, Raikkonen will surely follow.
Dietrisch Mateschitz and Helmut Marko have both presented keen interest in Raikkonen and have not ruled out the possibility of hiring the Finn. Of course, Raikkonen's lifestyle and image would boost Red Bull's marketing system and the 2007 world champion would get a car capable of fighting for the world championship.
Todat, SkySports reported that Red Bull have started negotiations with Raikkonen's management regarding a contract for 2014, but don't expect an announcement until August.
Whatever the case, Raikkonen obviously has a word or two in this. The Finn might not want to get involved in all the PR activities at Red Bull. He's limited on PR duties at Lotus and at the moment he seems happy where he is especially that he's sill fighting for race wins and podiums. Nevertheless, if we look at Allison's case, things can change rather quickly and it would be a severe blow below the belt for Lotus if they lose their star driver.
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