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Raikkonen unfazed by Red Bull interest

Kimi Raikkonen: "It's been like that [speculation] for ten years so it's not going to change now!" © Sutton Images

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• Kimi Räikkönen

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Kimi Raikkonen says interest from Red Bull will not affect his chances in the world championship battle.

With Sebastian Vettel failing to finish at Silverstone, fifth place saw Raikkonen close the gap to the top of the standings to 34 points. However, more interest has surrounded Raikkonen's chances of moving to Red Bull since Mark Webber announced he would leave the team, but having already fielded questions about his future Raikkonen said he won't be affected by the extra media interest.

"It's been like that for ten years so it's not going to change now!" Raikkonen said. "I do my things and you guys do your stuff but I've never had to worry about those things. I've got good people to look after me and they always make good choices for me, so I've got no doubt that they will do so again."

Having lost out on a podium finish at Silverstone by not pitting under the final safety car, Raikkonen is aware that his championship hopes mean Lotus needs to raise its game.

"We cannot make the mistakes that we made in the last race. Obviously we could have scored much more points and we need to put two cars in the points to change the situation. It's easy to say but it's not easy to do."

With Mercedes showing itself to be a threat to Red Bull in recent races, Raikkonen said it would help him if it kept taking points off Vettel but that he's wary of Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton passing him in the championship.

"Sometimes [it will help] yes, but at a certain point [Rosberg and Hamilton] will overtake us and it's not going to help us then. So we have to improve and try to get more strong results ourselves."

© ESPN Sports Media Ltd.