The Formula One driver’s carousel is up and running and is slowly gaining some steam. A week after we reported that Fernando Alonso may very well transfer to Ferrari next year, the latest we heard is that Alonso may very well be taking the seat now occupied by fellow world champion, Kimi Raikkonen.

Here’s the twist. In the same report last week, we mentioned that Raikkonen would most likely leave Formula One to race at the World Rally Championships. It turns out; Raikkonen isn’t planning on leaving Formula One and instead might return to his former team, McLaren.

Wow.

Ever the self-assured and confident driver that he is, Raikkonen, in an interview with the Telegraph, said, “If for some reason I am not at Ferrari next season I know I'll have a seat at another team in the paddock. It's not a problem. Other teams want me."

"I'm too young to retire. I have a contract with Ferrari for next season,” he also adds. “If I didn't want to race next season I would not have signed a contract”

continued after the jump.

While he made no mention of a return to his old team, the rumors began after McLaren team boss Martin Whitmarsh was quoted by BBC saying, "Kimi's really raised his game and all weekend has done a great job and Heikki has always been a fantastic team player and a good asset in our team but his race pace hasn't been good enough."

We’ve been immersed with Formula One for a long time and we rarely see a team boss praising the performance of a rival driver, and in this particular, a driver of your most heated rival.

In the event that it does happen, imagine the fireworks of a Kimi Raikkonen – Lewis Hamilton tag team versus a Felipe Massa – Fernando Alonso team-up.

‘Explosive’ is the appropriate word to describe it.