Possible Candidates to Succeed Kimi Raikkonen at Ferrari

Published 08/10/2017, 6:54 PM EDT

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Finland’s Kimi Raikkonen first debuted in Formula One in 2001, since then, he has come a long way and even won the World Championship in 2007. After a sabbatical in 2009, he returned to the fray in 2012 with the Lotus team. Now, he is racing for Ferrari since 2014, and his teammate Sebastian Vettel has been consistently getting the better of him.

Don’t get me wrong, Raikkonen is still fast but with age catching up fast, there will soon come a time when the Flying Finn has to hang up his boots, if his contract doesn’t expire first. Ferrari President Sergio Marchionne has issued many threats for Raikkonen to be more competitive or his contract would be under threat. If Raikkonen does leave the Scarlet team, Essentially Sports looks at potential candidates who can succeed the Finn.

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The Frenchman has developed well as a driver, from an accident prone driver in 2012 to a much more mature driver, he has come a long way. He left the Lotus team to join American outfit Haas F1 in 2016. The move was particularly strategic because Haas is a Ferrari customer and it brings him a step closer to a race seat. Grosjean has also become increasingly agitated with the car’s slow adjustment to the brakes and other technical issues. “I don’t know the answer (to that),” Grosjean said. after the race in Baku “Life is full of surprises. I think if you ask Valtteri (Bottas) what he was doing (in 2017) in December, he would have said Williams, and next thing you know, he’s in a world champion’s car. So it’s a phone call (away), and the best we can do is the best job on track.” He is frustrated that he has won a lot of races in the junior series but has not had a chance to challenge for a victory in F1.

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A move by the Mexican to Ferrari would make a lot of sense since Perez is a graduate from the Ferrari Drivers Academy. Other F1 drivers who were a part of this academy were the late Jules Bianchi and Williams driver Lance Stroll. Although Perez is contracted with Force India, a lot is riding on agreements between his Mexican backers and the Force India team. Checo has admitted that racing for Ferrari has been a lifelong dream for him and a deal between his Mexican backers and the Maranello squad could be possible.

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The Spaniard is a driver who is in high demand by several teams including Renault and Ferrari. Sainz Jr has been patiently awaiting an opportunity to move to sister team Red Bull, but Toro Rosso boss, Franz Tost affirms that Sainz will have to spend yet another year at Toro Rosso. Sainz was aware of Maranello’s interest and was quite flattered because he said that it was a list that almost every driver wanted to be on. But he is willing to keep an open mind.

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Possibly a surprising entry into our list, it isn’t altogether implausible. Verstappen has not been favoured by Lady Luck for most of the first half of the season. The number of retirements has begun to get on the Dutchman’s nerves and the fact that his teammate Daniel Ricciardo has been performing better, does little to cheer up his spirits. Ricciardo has already amassed a few podiums for the Austrian marquee so Verstappen is aware that the pace to challenge for the win is there. But bad luck and poor reliability from the Red Bull team could force Verstappen’s hand and lead to him looking for better prospects, particularly with Ferrari.

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Yet another surprising name on our list, Ricciardo may be ahead of teammate Verstappen in the standings and have more points finishes, but he too has been a victim of reliability and misfortune. Although he remained silent on a potential move in 2018, he was focused on closing the gap to Mercedes and Ferrari. Ricciardo wanted to be in the fastest car but a team switch is not on the cards at the moment. The Australian also knows that he is on Ferrari’s radar if they decide not to renew Raikkonen’s contract. Vettel was also fine with working alongside Ricciardo as well.

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Written by:

Dhruv George

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Dhruv George is a senior Formula One and NASCAR analyst for EssentiallySports, having authored nearly 12000 articles spanning different sports like F1, NASCAR, Tennis, NFL, and eSports. He graduated with a PG Diploma in Journalism from the Xavier Institute of Communications. Dhruv has also conducted interviews with F1 driver Pierre Gasly and Moto2 rider Tony Arbolino.
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