Reigning world champion Sebastian Vettel has flagged his friend Kimi Raikkonen as a potential pretender to his throne in 2012.

After becoming friends prior to Raikkonen's rallying switch two years ago, German Vettel has stayed in contact with the Finn, occasionally meeting in their domiciled Switzerland to play badminton.

They did not manage to catch up at the Jerez test last week, but Red Bull's Vettel admitted the pace of Raikkonen's new Lotus caught his eye.

"If it's as good as it seemed at Jerez, then Kimi is a serious opponent," he is quoted by Auto Motor und Sport.

http://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/raikk ... ent-vettel