Mateschitz Dismisses Red Bull - Raikkonen Deal for 2011

Red Bull owner Dietrich Mateschitz insisted that his company has no plans whatsoever to employ Kimi Raikkonen at his Formula One team for the 2011 season. Of course, this kind of plans have the tendency to change from one month to another, but as far as the current situation goes, Mark Webber's seat with the team is in no way endangered by the Finnish driver, argued the Austrian businessman.

Following Raikkonen's Red Bull backing in the 2010 World Rally Championship, most media suggested that this is only the first step towards securing the Finn a place at Red Bull Racing in 2011. Since the Milton Keynes based team had already extended Mark Webber's deal at the time Raikkonen's employment with Ferrari had been terminated, such a deal was impossible to secure for 2010.

By offering Raikkonen what he had always wanted – a full-time campaign in the WRC – Red Bull was reportedly trying to put him on hold for a 2011 contract with their F1 team, replacing Webber. Mateschitz was quick to dismiss it however, insisting that a good performance by the Aussie will most certainly not be rewarded with an ousting at the end of the 2010 campaign.

“This is nothing more than pure speculation. We do not know what Kimi intends to do in one year. We have a very good relationship which makes room for speculations. But to tell you now Kimi will be racing for us in 2011 is not serious. If Webber provides top performances this year we will not reward him by giving his cockpit to Raikkonen,” said the Austrian owner, according to Austrian newspaper Salzburger Nachrichten.

Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber were the very first drivers to be confirmed for the 2010 season of Formula One, shortly after last year's German GP at the Nurburgring. However, while Webber's deal will run out at the end of 2010, Vettel's expires at the end of 2012.