Räikkönen in WRC: a year or more?

Kimi Räikkönen, after nine seasons in Formula 1 (one year with Sauber, five years with McLaren and three years with Ferrari), has decided to turn the F1 page to start a new chapter, in the World Rally Championship. But the Finn, who has often shown his interest in Rally, is only under contract for the year 2010. « For now we have concluded a one year agreement and we will decide later whether it continues or not », confirms Kimi.

Red Bull, which already sponsored the Citroën World Rally Team (Loeb/Elena and Sordo/Marti) since 2008, will now support the two other crews of the chevron brand (Räikkönen/Lindström and Ogier/Ingrassia). The energy drink brand allowed the Finn to get behind the wheel of a C4 WRC for the 2010 season but could also see further. For many of the Finn's supporters, Kimi Räikkönen is the ideal candidate to inherit a steering wheel from a car Red Bull in Formula 1 for the 2011 season.

But nothing says that the 2007 world champion wants to return to the circuits at the end of his rally season, just as it is not certain that Formula 1 wants to see the return of a driver who has moved away from it. A feeling confirmed by Alain Prost, who had expressed his skepticism about the concept of a sabbatical year on Europe 1. “ When you take a sabbatical year, you have to be extremely serious, prepare yourself physically and mentally, declared the four-time F1 world champion. But he's a little nonchalant, he likes to party and have a drink. It might be difficult for him. People in the industry may have trouble trusting him again in 2011. »

If the Finn proves successful with the Citroën C4 WRC in 2010, the driver could decide himself not to turn to F1, in order to continue the adventure in WRC. And, at Red Bull, nothing in the agreement provides for a possible move to the F1 team. Before the deal was announced, a source close to the matter told autosport.com that ?This does not mean at all that he will replace a current Red Bull driver in the team in 2011 ". In the meantime, Kimi Räikkönen can fully focus on the 2010 season, during which he will contest twelve of the thirteen rounds of the World Rally Championship.