Column: The 4 best options to replace Raikkonen at Ferrari

People have been reporting this for years, but 2018 really looks like it's Kimi Raikkonen's last season in F1. The Ice Man will leave a big hole at Ferrari if he does decide to leave the sport, which is why we thought it would be a good idea to look at four potential successors to the 2007 world champion!

Daniel Ricciardo

Ricciardo is already being recruited by the Italian media, who are famously influential on Ferrari's recruitment strategy. The Aussie is on an expiring deal at Red Bull and has already indicated that he'll be exploring his options before potentially re-signing at Red Bull.

A former teammate of Sebastian Vettel when they were both at Red Bull, Ricciardo can certainly bring the best out of Vettel. They never got along well when they were teammates, but both of them have matured a lot since they parted ways. The Aussie is always good a couple of spectacular races every year, and he's proven that when he gets given the proper tools, he is capable of greatness.

Valtteri Bottas

A bit of an outside shout, but Valtteri Bottas is also on an expiring deal at Mercedes as he's currently on his second one-year deal. The Finn left a lot to desire last year, as the general consensus on him was that he didn't challenge Hamilton enough at the top of the table.

This year, it's a completely different story, as Bottas has often looked the better of the two Mercedes cars, and he's very unlucky not to have won a race yet this season. The way that he's been performing this season might mean that the Silver Arrows offer him a longer deal after this year, but Ferrari should definitely be keeping tabs on Bottas.

Kevin Magnussen

This is where a lot of you will probably disagree with me. K-Mag has been in the news a lot lately for the wrong reasons as the Dane has done some dangerous, borderline reckless driving in the last couple of weeks.

However, Magnussen is an excellent driver and that's something that can't be denied. He's scored nineteen points for Haas already this season, exactly nineteen points more than his teammate Romain Grosjean. 

A former McLaren talent, K-Mag is still only 25 years old and has plenty of experience already in the F1 as he made his debut in 2014, where he surprisingly ended on the podium for McLaren. A move to Ferrari could end in him and Vettel having a fight to the death, but they could bring the best out of each other as well.

Charles Leclerc

It took rookie Charles Leclerc a few races to get settled into the F1, but the Ferrari Academy product has been nothing short of sensational in the past few weeks. He's already accumulated more points for Sauber in the first five races than both Sauber cars did over the entirety of 2017, which says something about both the state of Sauber as well as the raw talent of Leclerc. 

Back-to-back points finishes in arguably the worst car of the grid, that's nothing to sneeze at. In terms of narrative, having a youth product driving for the Ferrari F1 team would be a great story, as Leclerc has been tipped to be a future world champion by many. Sure, you could see him develop for a few more years, but why not take a punt on him and see how he does in one of the best cars? If he can finish in the points in a Sauber, imagine what he could do in a Ferrari!