Red Bull team boss Christian Horner, along with a team representative, is denying that Kimi Raikkonen will return to Formula One in a Red Bull machine replacing Mark Webber next season.
Webber came under scrutiny this week after some speculated that he had ignored a team order during the British Grand Prix to maintain his third place position behind his teammate, point’s leader Sebastian Vettel. However Webber did indeed maintain his position and finished third behind Vettel in second. Webber’s contract with Red Bull is set to expire at the end of this season. But team owner Dietrich Mateschitz told German media that Webber’s seat is secure.
"There is still no doubt about Mark's contract extension,” he said.” He feels comfortable with us and within the team is very popular. He can not get a better car, and we can not get a better driver from the market.”
Horner said he has scheduled private talks with Webber to discuss the incident and his contract. He also said he would try to sort out what happened and if indeed Webber did try and overtake Vettel; if Webber was trying to overtake and ignore the team orders it would not be taken lightly.
“I understand that he's racing, but he also absolutely unnecessarily risked a crash. If all 500 people in the team thought only of themselves, we could never achieve our goals," Horner told a German newspaper.
As for the rumor that the incident will mean that Webber will lose his seat to Raikkonen, Horner dismissed it.
"I think his head is in a different place than Formula One at the moment,” Horner said of Raikkonen. “So far I've seen no signs that he wants to come back."
“We don't have a driver problem,” he added.
Raikkonen is the 2007 F1 world champion. He left F1 after the 2009 season to focus on the World Rally Championship. The Finnish driver traveled to America earlier this year and tried his hand a couple of NASCAR races.
Red Bull spokesperson Helmut Marko and the assistant to Mateschitz also flatly denied that Webber will be replaced with Raikkonen next season.
"He will not drive at Red Bull,” Marko told German media. “The rumors are far-fetched and total nonsense."
"We have our juniors,” he added. “One of which will replace Mark Webber at Red Bull when he's ready."
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