F1 Fanatic

RBR may still have a lead driver in 2014 as Webber has not mentioned his retirement yet… so given that Vergne and Ricciardo will have had another full year in F1 by 2014, either one of them could well be ready to make the move to RBR. Raikkonen has been replacing Webber since 2008, if you believe the rumours!
I should add I still don’t see Vettel leaving Red Bull in 2014.

*sigh*

Not this rubbish again.

Why do you think it’s rubbish?

Because the first rumours were started by Raikkonen fanboys who seemed to think that Red Bull sponsoring him in the WRC in 2010 was foreshadowing a move to Red Bull Racing in 2011, and they refused to listen to even so much as acknowledge the idea that Red Bull backed him in 2010 because a former Formula One World Champion competing in the WRC would naturally get a lot of attention, and that sponsoring him would get them more coverage.

Last November, when there were rumours about Kimi joining Lotus, this is what you had to say

Okay, the fact that you’ve sifted through a year’s worth of content to find a comment I made to try and throw in my face a) does not prove me wrong in this instance, because it is unrelated to this discussion, and more importantly, b) it is extraordinarily creepy.

I think it’s possible that Räikkönen joins Red Bull in 2014.

I think Raikkonen will much prefer driving in the World Lawn-mowing Championship (if there is one) rather than driving for Red Bull and having to put up with the insane amount of PR work, sponsor activations and showing off that comes with the contract. Vettel and Webber’s performances on track are not the only reasons why they drive for Red Bull. It’s also because they are both charismatic, likeable guys that always show up for interviews and PR jobs and charity work and so on so forth with a large smile on their face. They fit a certain profile that Raikkonen will never ever be able to apply himself to. And Raikkonen is an entity that Red Bull can’t successfully front in order to gain the maximum marketing potential out of it. It’s a lose-lose situation.

So yeah, the rumours are rubbish. I don’t think Raikkonen will leave Lotus anytime soon and when he does, he’ll probably leave the sport again and go rallying or get into snowmobiles or…I don’t know, do something fun…

If Vettel does leave for Ferrari in 2014, then Red Bull are better off keeping Webber and promoting either Buemi, Ricciardo or Vergne as a second driver for one season and making a bid for Hamilton in 2015 when he finally gets fed up with Mercedes.

@tony031r I disagree with your assessment that Räikkönen doesn’t fit the Red Bull profile. A driver who also races snowmobiles and powerboats and likes snowboarding sounds exactly like a Red Bull profile to me when you look at all of the things Red Bull typically sponsors.

I think that if Vettel is already signed up to leave then as @girts says RBR might be best to move towards this soon before that option is closed, unless they are confident that Ricciardo is going to be the new Seb.

A driver who also races snowmobiles and powerboats and likes snowboarding sounds exactly like a Red Bull profile to me when you look at all of the things Red Bull typically sponsors.

@jerseyf1 – At a first glance, it’s the perfect fit, I agree. But I think Red Bull’s motorsport effort is a bit different than their other extreme sports implications and is adressed to a slightly different segment in terms of target and reach. It’s their “high-end division”, let’s call it that, and it works based on a slightly different marketing strategy and attitude for and from those involved.

F1 is not niche exposure. It’s large scale, full on exposure. Their main focus here is somewhat common to what they achieved yesterday with Baumgartner – creating modern heroes. People that will be associated with their brand long-term and will leave a long lasting mark on specific domains. Why do you think Red Bull signed Vettel in the first place? Why do you think they kept Webber since their early days in 2007? Why do you think they have one of the strongest and best-financed Young Driver Development Programmes in motorsport, even thought at the moment it doesn’t seem to produce the expected results? It’s in order to create personalities that are able to perform at the highest level, become marketing icons and bear a big Red Bull stamp on their backs while doing so. This is a formula that is working brilliantly for them, ergo, I doubt they will take the time, patience and resources to try and shape Raikkonen into what they need for their advertising strategy to work OR change their strategy in order to fit Raikkonen’s rebellious character.

Long hair, streetwear and f-all attitude might not be enough when it comes to Red Bull’s motorsport division, since they already have the teenage, 18 to 25 segment covered successfully in pretty much any other form of urban / extreme sport there is. IMHO.

But yeah, I’m not saying 100% sure it won’t happen either. It’s F1. Everything is possible as I witnessed much weirder things happen over the course of the years. I’m just saying, in my opinion, it’s a long to VERY long shot.

But then again, Räikkönen has said many times that he doesn’t want to race in a team that doesn’t have a car that is capable of winning.

@hotbottoms – I’m sure I will attract a lot of criticism for this remark but…the E20 was capable of winning up to the mid-season. The problem was Raikkonen didn’t manage to come to terms with his race engineer and mechanics over what the perfect setup for that car is. He struggled for a number of races with the steering not being to his liking, not being able to fully understand the tyres and so on, while Ferrari, McLaren and Red Bull progressed. And he’s still struggling in quali. Look at how many times Grosjean beat him this year. There’s a good chance a more flexible driver, like Alonso or Hamilton would have gotten at least one win out of that car. Just saying…

And no, I don’t have anything against Raikkonen. I actually kinda like the guy.

Slightly off-topic, but doesn’t anyone else find this whole whatwillkimidonext.com thing a bit silly and out-of-character for him? I thought he didn’t care for all the BS surrounding the sport and here he is announcing his endorsement to some brand of men’s perfume or whatever. If he does announce something interesting, like taking over Force India from Vijay Mallya, then I’ll gladly eat my words.

As for RBR in 2014, first of all I think Vettel will stay, and if he doesn’t, then I suspect they will get someone younger, preferably from their own academy. The only problem for Red Bull is that they have been spoiled by Vettel, and by having the best car. I think there’s no reason to assume that Ricciardo and Vergne cannot do what Coulthard and Webber could and can do. It could even be that, when Red Bull needs new drivers, Ricciardo and Vergne get promoted at the same time, if there is nothing to choose between the two.