Kimi Raikkonen

Kimi Raikkonen’s future with Ferrari has become a yearly story that is almost predictable: he underperforms; people question his motivation; Ferrari hands him a one-year extension.

The rationale has chiefly been that Raikkonen keeps lead driver Sebastian Vettel happy. Vettel has said time and time again that Raikkonen is the easiest teammate he has ever worked with, giving Ferrari good reason to keep the Finn on. And in its defence, the alternative driver options for 2018 weren’t a good deal better.

But just as Mercedes has a wealth of options for next year, Ferrari is in a similar position. Daniel Ricciardo has been on the Scuderia’s radar for some time, but has never been out of contract. That changes for 2019, though, making him a possible option.

Charles Leclerc is widely being tipped to be Raikkonen’s successor in the long-term at Maranello, but needs to impress during his formative year with Sauber if he is to even be a consideration for next year. That said, his presence does mean that any other driver choice from Ferrari would smack of being little more than a stop-gap until the Formula 2 champion is ready to make the step up.

Raikkonen needs to deliver this year. His performances last year were perhaps the best yet through his second stint with Ferrari, but still only gave him a five-point edge over Ricciardo in the final drivers’ standings. A 112-point gap to Vettel didn’t cost Ferrari P2 in the constructors’ championship in 2017, but with Red Bull expected to step its game up this year, a similar deficit could prove more damaging.