Kimi Raikkonen to retire at end of F1 season

ZANDVOORT, Netherlands — The Iceman is ultimately retiring, bringing the curtain down on a unique job in Formula One particular historical past.

But not for a several months however.

Kimi Raikkonen will retire at the stop of the period, concluding a job that spanned two decades and included the 2007 world championship.

Raikkonen is in the remaining 12 months of his contract with Alfa Romeo. The Finn introduced his departure on Instagram on Wednesday ahead of this weekend’s Dutch Grand Prix at Zandvoort.

“This is it. This will be my past period in Formula 1,” Raikkonen wrote. “This is a selection I did all through past winter. It was not an straightforward selection but soon after this period it is time for new matters.

“Formula 1 may well occur to an stop for me but there is a large amount more in lifestyle that I want to knowledge and get pleasure from. See you all around soon after all of this! Sincerely Kimi.”

Raikkonen’s retirement will open a seat at Alfa Romeo for the 2022 period. The workforce has fielded the exact drivers’ lineup of Raikkonen and Antonio Giovinazzi for the past three seasons.

Raikkonen was fairly not known when he built his F1 debut with Sauber in 2001 and scored details in his debut to quickly attain consideration. He changed Mika Hakkinen at McLaren in the 2002 period and won his very first race the up coming 12 months whilst finishing second in the championship.

He moved to Ferrari in 2007 and won his only championship, beating Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso by a single stage in the period finale.

Raikkonen took a two-12 months break from F1 in 2010 and 2011, applying his time absent to go after other racing formulas, such as NASCAR. He ran in the two the Truck Series and Xfinity Series at Charlotte Motor Speedway in 2011.

Raikkonen credited his time absent for renewing his passion for F1 and supporting to prolong his job. The forty one-12 months-previous has 21 job victories, his past in 2018 at the United States Grand Prix when he was with Ferrari and concluded third in the championship standings.

Raikkonen concluded fourth at Interlagos in 2019 but has not been better than ninth considering that. He’s scored two details this 12 months, finishing 10th in the two Azerbaijan and Hungary.

Two-time F1 champion Hakkinen was the popular Finnish driver ahead of his countryman Raikkonen came together.

“I raise my hat to Kimi and value the power and toughness he has experienced, and that he’s been in a position to drive with Formula One particular for these kinds of a extended time,” Hakkinen explained in an interview with Finnish newspaper Ilta-Sanomat. “The fact that Kimi has ongoing for so extended is pretty incomprehensible and I genuinely value it.”

F1 CEO Stefano Domenicali also compensated his tribute to Raikkonen, who turned an icon not just for nerveless driving that gained him the nickname “Iceman” but also for his monosyllabic, mumbled answers in news conferences.

“Kimi is an extraordinary element of our activity, a particular good friend and a true champion. I experienced the privilege of performing with him at Ferrari and know the wonderful individual he is,” Domenicali explained. “We will all miss out on him and his unique design and style and wish him and his relatives the finest for the long run.”

The aura of indifference built him popular and earmarked him as a unique character in a collection replete with self-endorsing people.

Beneath Raikkonen’s cloak of indifference, nonetheless, lay a devoted qualified with a enormous perform ethic and a high-quality eye for depth significantly appreciated by race engineers who worked with him.

That see was echoed by Alfa Romeo workforce principal Frederic Vasseur.

“His existence, his charisma and his unique frame of mind, matched with the innate skill that built this workforce give him a prospect back in 2001, have built him a legend of our activity in a way which quantities and figures battle to convey,” Vasseur explained. “A driver like Kimi has written some indelible web pages of our team’s, and our sport’s, historical past.”

___

Much more AP vehicle racing