David Coulthard says Alonso to Red Bull is unlikely

David Coulthard

David Coulthard says it is “unlikely” that Fernando Alonso will swap Ferrari for Red Bull, leaving it to Kimi Raikkonen or Daniel Ricciardo to replace Mark Webber.

Rumours emerged last month claiming that Alonso was considering a move to Red Bull Racing as Webber’s replacement for next season.

The speculation was given some weight when his manager Luis Garcia Abad met with Red Bull team boss Christian Horner in Budapest.

However, former Red Bull racer Coulthard believes Alonso won’t be walking away from Ferrari any time soon.

“I think the Fernando story is unlikely but I do think it’s normal that all of these guys and their managers talk to all the teams,” he said in an interview with GPUpdate.net.

“He wouldn’t be a manager if he’s not talking to the team that’s winning races. The name Ferrari is a wonderful name but winning grands prix and World Championships is more wonderful.

“I think Fernando has already shown that he’s a great driver, he’s won two World Championships with Renault. He clearly wants to win with Ferrari and Ferrari are consistently frontrunners, so you have to expect them to be strong at different points over Formula 1′s history.”

As for Raikkonen and Ricciardo, Coulthard says both have positives going for them and only time will tell which of the two succeeds Webber as Sebastian Vettel‘s team-mate.

“Kimi is a World Champion; he’s unbelievably consistent in his delivery of points and race results. So you cannot not look at him as a real contender to deliver what Red Bull really want, which is not winning the Drivers’ Championship but the Constructors’.

“Daniel is known well to Red Bull and is a lovely guy. He’d be very popular within the team. He isn’t really known to the public but that’s because he hasn’t been finishing on the podium and all of the things that really allow people to get to know someone. It would be a great validation of the Red Bull young driver programme to have another driver like Sebastian who came up through that scheme.

“I don’t know who it’s going to be. I know a little bit of what the process is; in time we’ll all find out.”

Although David Coulthard would be “surprised” if Sebastian Vettel didn’t win this year’s World title, the Scot concedes there are still a lot of points to play for.

Vettel and Red Bull has yet again proven to have the measure of their rivals this season, securing four race wins and 172 points in the first half of the campaign.

That has put the German, who is chasing a fourth Drivers’ Championship title, 38 points ahead of his nearest rival Kimi Raikkonen while Fernando Alonso in third is a further point off the pace.

And although there are still 225 points to play for this season, Coulthard reckons Vettel has enough of a buffer to see him through.

“Historically, if you’re able to build a bit of a buffer in the first half of the season, even if somebody then comes forward in performance, normally you can hang in there and get the Championship,” he told GPUpdate.net.

“If you look at [Jenson] Button when he won with Brawn, he won a lot of races in the first half of the season. He didn’t actually do anything in the second half of the season but he was able to hang in there and get the Championship.

“Mercedes are looking strong, there’s no question about it. And they have a quick car in qualifying, probably with certain advantages over the Red Bull. But Red Bull have a very consistent package.

“Sebastian is unquestionably a remarkable driver when you look at the amount of starts, the amount of success, the qualifying and racing and what have you.

“Obviously I don’t know this, but I would be surprised if he doesn’t win his fourth Championship. But of course with nine races to go, there are a lot of points.”