Kimi Raikkonen has announced he will retire at the end of 2021, calling time on his long and illustrious Formula 1 career.
The 2007 World Champion announced the news via Instagram on Wednesday. On the post, he said:
“This is it. This will be my last season in Formula 1.
“This is a decision I did [sic] during last winter.
“It was not an easy decision but after this season it is time for new things.
“Even though the season is still on, I want to thank my family, all my teams, everyone involved in my racing career and especially all of you great fans that have been rooting for me all this time.
“Formula 1 might come to an end for me but there is a lot more in life
that I want to experience and enjoy.
“See you around after all of this! Sincerely Kimi.”
The Finn, affectionately known to fans as the ‘Iceman,’ will be 42 years old at the end of 2021.
18 years in F1
Räikkönen made his debut with the Sauber-Petronas team in the 2001 Australian Grand Prix.
F1 star & Kimi’s future teammate at McLaren, Juan Pablo Montoya, also made his F1 debut at the same race for BMW Williams F1 Team.
Future double World Champion Fernando Alonso (and current Alpine F1 Team driver) was another F1 debutant at the same race, racing for Minardi-European.
Räikkönen returned to Sauber in 2019 – now under the guise of Alfa Romeo Racing – with whom his current contract expires at the end of 2021.
Silly Season: 2021
Alfa Romeo Racing Orlen have yet to announce their driver line-up for 2022, but it’s rumoured that Valtteri Bottas – current Mercedes teammate to Sir Lewis Hamilton – will replace his fellow Finn at the Swiss outfit.
Räikkönen’s retirement is the first domino to fall in F1’s ‘silly season‘ – if Bottas were to now join Alfa Romeo for 2022, as rumoured, this would end his time at Mercedes-AMG Petronas and open his seat for a potential move for George Russell, the Mercedes junior, who is currently driving for Williams.
That, in turn, would open a race seat at Williams, which could go to former Red Bull F1 driver Alexander Albon, or even Nyck de Vries – the Mercedes-EQ Formula E Team driver, and newly-crowned 2020-21 ABB FIA Formula E World Champion.
KPH car blog 