Dr Helmut Marko has admitted he can understand Mercedes’ efforts to woo triple world champion Sebastian Vettel from Red Bull.<\/p>\n
Speaking to Germany’s Bild am Sonntag newspaper, Niki Lauda admitted he has been trying to convince Vettel to join Mercedes, whose current drivers are Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg.<\/p>\n
“I continued what (former motor sport director Norbert) Haug began,” said Lauda, Mercedes’ new chairman and shareholder.<\/p>\n
Fellow Austrian Marko, who is Red Bull’s F1 consultant, insisted he has no hard feelings.<\/p>\n
“Niki should absolutely be trying to get Vettel,” he said.<\/p>\n
The news gives fresh insight into the driver rumblings at Red Bull, amid Mark Webber’s possible exit at the end of the year, and rumours Kimi Raikkonen is being courted.<\/p>\n
“Red Bull need to ensure that if Sebastian Vettel gets the mega-offer from Ferrari and leaves, they have their tail covered and Raikkonen would be very capable of that,” technical expert Gary Anderson told the BBC.<\/p>\n
“I believe he (Raikkonen) is a perfect fit for Red Bull.\u00a0 I wouldn’t be surprised if negotiations were well down the road for this to happen,” he added.<\/p>\n
Similarly, David Coulthard thinks Lotus might be hard-pressed to convince Raikkonen to stay, if powerful Red Bull comes knocking.<\/p>\n
“They definitely have good people there (at Lotus),” he told Germany’s motorsport-magazin.com, “but it looks like not the same financial setup (as Red Bull).”<\/p>\n
Coulthard said his former teammate Mark Webber is still doing a good job, “but the link between Kimi and Red Bull goes way back”.<\/p>\n
“If Mark decides to do something else, in my view Kimi would be the perfect teammate for Sebastian.”<\/p>\n
For now, Raikkonen’s public comments on the matter are guarded.<\/p>\n
“I don’t have a contract (beyond 2013),” he told Finland’s Turun Sanomat newspaper, “but at some point I have to think about it.<\/p>\n
“I want to win, and at least for the moment, I want to be here (at Lotus).”<\/p>\n
Some have named the 2007 world champion as Vettel’s most likely challenger for the 2013 title, but 33-year-old Raikkonen is not so sure.<\/p>\n
“It’s going to be hard to catch Sebastian if he keeps taking good results so we need to start taking more points from him,” the Finn said.<\/p>\n
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