Is Raikkonen headed to McLaren? Read on to find out...

The Formula One gossip factory is in full swing over the future of Lotus driver Kimi Raikkonen.

And McLaren are not doing any more to stop the rumour mills surrounding the Finnish driver’s next move.

The British Formula One team, on Tuesday, revealed they considered signing Raikkonen last year but there have been no talks -- so far -- with their former driver since last season.

Team principal Martin Whitmarsh’s comments came hours after reports suggested that Raikkonen had signed a three-year contract with McLaren.

Asked in an interview with the official formula1.com website whether McLaren had ever considered getting Raikkonen back, Whitmarsh replied:

"Yes, we have. Kimi has always been great and I am a big fan of him. There is a lot of speculation out there at the moment so let's see what happens.

"Last year we had talks with him, but for various reasons it didn't happen," added the team boss. "This year we've had no talks -- yet."

Asked whether having two world champions on board, as McLaren did last year with Hamilton and Button, might get more "positive media mileage", Whitmarsh agreed that might be the case.

"Yes, it might do," he replied. "We'll see. We are not talking to Kimi at the moment so let's see what happens in the driver market.

"I think one thing I have to say is that we haven't given our drivers the car we should have done this year. But they've been fantastic ambassadors and I think they deserve another go with us next year."

McLaren signed young Mexican Sergio Perez from Sauber last year as a replacement for 2008 world champion Lewis Hamilton once the Briton had decided to move to Mercedes.

Britain's Jenson Button, the 2009 world champion for Brawn GP, is their other driver and has been with the Woking team since 2010.

Raikkonen drove for McLaren from 2002 to 2006, when Ron Dennis was team principal, and won nine races with them as well as finishing overall runner-up in 2003 and 2005.

Button and Perez are expected to stay at McLaren next year, despite a miserable season for the former champions who have yet to finish higher than fifth, although Button told reporters at last weekend's Belgian Grand Prix that he did not yet have a signed deal.

Button told reporters before Sunday's race at Spa that he was happy at McLaren and expected to see out his Formula One future with the team.

McLaren celebrate 50 years in Formula One at Monza next week and a contract renewal could come at the same time for the Englishman.

Lotus say they are confident they can persuade Raikkonen to stay once they have secured a new investment deal but the Finn has been linked to Red Bull, Ferrari and McLaren in media speculation.