Ferrari offers Raikkonen seat for 2014 but plays the news down in the media

The 2014 driver ‘silly season’ has taken yet another shock twist.

Germany’s Bild newspaper claims Kimi Raikkonen, already wanted by Lotus next year and also in the running to switch to Red Bull, is now a contender to drive a Ferrari in 2014.

Raikkonen, who drove for the great Italian marque for three years and even won the title in 2007, left Ferrari one year early at the end of 2009 when the team replaced him with Fernando Alonso.

Alonso, however, although under contract through 2016, has been linked with a shock move to Red Bull, while Brazilian Felipe Massa’s deal ends at the end of the current season.

Bild correspondents Nicola Pohl and Helmut Uhl report that Ferrari “has made the Finn an offer”.They claim the offer is “more lucrative” than what is being promised by Red Bull and was made to the 33-year-old on the Thursday before the Hungarian grand prix.

Bild says Red Bull’s offer is a $15 million retainer, performance bonuses, and sponsorship of his motocross team.

The Raikkonen rumour could tie in with reports of a developing rift between Alonso and Ferrari, after president Luca di Montezemolo “tweaked his ear” after the Spaniard made disparaging comments in Hungary.

But a spokesman denied talk of a rift.

“The president is 100 per cent with Alonso,” a Ferrari spokesman told Manuel Franco, the correspondent for Spanish sports newspaper AS.

“Montezemolo is the first one to support the call of our driver to improve, as soon as possible, the competitiveness of the car,” he added.

And Ferrari on Wednesday played down reports it has made a lucrative offer to sign Kimi Raikkonen for 2014.

As Lotus and Red Bull tussle over the Finn’s services, and amid wild rumours Ferrari number 1 Fernando Alonso is toying with a switch to Red Bull, the Raikkonen-to-Ferrari story was broken earlier by the German newspaper Bild.

A Ferrari spokesman told the German news agency DPA the team “has no interest in the driver market right now”.

But with Felipe Massa’s contract expiring, that might not be true. Indeed, the German magazine Sport Bild said Ferrari never lost contact with 33-year-old Raikkonen, who won the title with the Maranello marque in 2007.

Raikkonen’s deal was ended a year early late in 2009, when Alonso arrived with crucial Santander backing. But Sport Bild says Raikkonen always maintained a good relationship with team boss Stefano Domenicali.

“I could very well imagine Kimi back at Ferrari,” former driver and German-language Sky commentator Marc Surer said.

He said he doubts Raikkonen has ruled out Ferrari as an option simply because the team ended his tenure prematurely in 2009.

“At that time it was because of Alonso’s sponsor that Kimi had to go,” said Surer.

So as many muse the possibility of Raikkonen returning to Ferrari, others think a sensational switch from the Italian team to Red Bull for Alonso is also conceivable.

“The way I see it,” grand prix legend Gerhard Berger said, “Alonso must react.

“He has been waiting (at Ferrari) over three years now for the title. Each time, Red Bull beating him. So he has to try to drive for them in 2014,” added Berger, who is close to Red Bull team owner Dietrich Mateschitz.

“With the brilliant designer Adrian Newey, at least they (Red Bull) give him the guarantee to have a winning car.”

But even Berger, a former Ferrari driver, acknowledged that Alonso will only be able to leave if there are “escape clauses” in his 2016 contract.

Surer, however, thinks Red Bull pairing Alonso with reigning triple world champion Sebastian Vettel would be a big mistake.

“If that happens, Kimi in the Ferrari is world champion,” he said. “It would be like 2007, when Alonso and Lewis Hamilton fought so much (at McLaren) that Raikkonen had the last laugh even with an inferior car. So I doubt Red Bull would create a war like that.”