F1 ‘transfer’ window set to close at Monza

Lotus driver Raikkonen under intense scrutiny.

LONDON: Formula One’s silly season has become more like European football’s transfer window with every passing year.

Just as the top clubs and top players jostle work for the best deals for their futures, so do the top teams and drivers.

The only difference is that football has a deadline. Formula One, however, has Monza — the traditional unofficial race meeting at which most of the main ‘transfers’ are completed or confirmed.

The drivers’ market, as so often, appears to be in a state of suspended animation as Kimi Raikkonen waits to make a decision – choosing, it seems, between staying with Lotus or moving on.

Red Bull, McLaren and Ferrari all await his next move with great interest and so too do Daniel Ricciardo, Jenson Button and Felipe Massa. But the fact that Red Bull have been reluctant to confirm Australian Ricciardo as Mark Webber’s successor suggests they have not yet abandoned hopes of luring Raikkonen.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 1^st, 2013.

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