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Raikkonen tops Red Bull shortlist

Kimi Raikkonen admits he faces a "difficult" decision over his future © Sutton Images

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• Drivers:
• Christian Horner
• |
• Kimi Räikkönen
• |
• Daniel Ricciardo
• |
• Jean-Éric Vergne

• Teams:
• Lotus F1
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• Red Bull

Christian Horner admits that Kimi Raikkonen is top of a three-man shortlist to replace Mark Webber at Red Bull.

With Webber having announced his decision to leave Formula One at the end of the season yesterday, Raikkonen was immediately linked to the vacant seat at Red Bull. Horner said there were realistically only three drivers in the running for the drive, with Daniel Ricciardo and Jean-Eric Vergne also on the team's radar, but he admitted he still needed more time to be convinced by the Toro Rosso drivers.

"We want the fastest line-up that we can have and Kimi obviously is an attractive option," Horner told Sky Sports. "The youngsters are attractive as well; we want to take our time, evaluate the options available to us but the reality is it's probably between those three.

"Our position is we want to put the best two drivers in the car. If one of those two youngsters merits the position purely on merit then he'll be the guy to be sitting in the car next year. Our position is that we want to field the best two drivers that we possibly can; Sebastian came from Toro Rosso - he was an obvious choice to take - Jean-Eric and Daniel have shown some really good pace at different points during this year and we just need a little bit more time to evaluate them against a proven act like Kimi Raikkonen."

Horner also said it was unlikely Paul di Resta would be a candidate for the seat.

"You've got to look at everything and everyone that's available. I'm not sure what Paul's situation is but as I say I think our focus will primarily be on those three guys."