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Ford team principal Malcolm Wilson has said he would be willing to offer reigning Formula One champion Kimi Raikkonen a test for the World Rally Championship while saying that he expects British star Lewis Hamilton to follow him into the sport at some point in the future.

Ferrari driver Raikkonen said recently that he would be interested in rallying when he retires from F1, which is widely thought to be set for the end of the 2009 season.

And Wilson seems keen to offer the Finn the chance to compete in a Ford Focus, should be follow through with the idea.

"I'd offer him a test. It'd be a great opportunity for us," Wilson told Motorsport News. "We can do it because we've got the forest [stages] on our doorstep."

Wilson added that McLaren star Hamilton and BMW Sauber driver Robert Kubica of Poland could well find themselves competing in the WRC in future - and may even prefer it to F1.

"I'm really pleased guys that are in Formula One would like to be driving a world rally car," he said. "One or two of them would like to be driving a world rally car rather than an F1 car if the same sort of rewards were there.

"Sadly we're not in that position but I'm sure that at some point the three drivers we're talking about would end up behind the wheel of a rally car."

Defending WRC champion Sebastien Loeb said: "I would welcome [Raikkonen] because it's good to have big names coming into rallying.

"It's difficult to come from circuit racing to rallying because you have pacenotes and gravel driving is different to what he is used to.

"But with the talent he has and with some practice he will adapt and find the feeling."

A route into rallying could be provided by Ferrari's parent company Fiat, as it owns the Abarth team in the Intercontinental Rally Challenge - while it intends to move into the WRC in 2010.

Reports have indicated that they would be thrilled at the prospect of running Raikkonen in either the IRC or WRC.

Jonathan Symcox / Eurosport