Legendary Finnish driver Kimi “the iceman” Räikkönen has announced his retirement from Formula 1 saying this will be his last season in the sport.
Kimi started his career in Formula 1 with Sauber F1 team and was a race winner by 2003.
His on track pace was undeniably fast in his early days from the first day he was given a test drive in a F1 car.
Peter Sauber offered the Finn a test in their car in 2000 at Mugello and Räikkönen lapped half a second faster than the regular driver of the time.
Sauber kept that a secret to keep competitors away from snatching the talent from them.
Räikkönen’s most famous move was when he signed a 3 year deal with Ferrari for the start of the 2007 season.
The deal payed off for Ferrari as Kimi would go ahead to immediately claim pole position and score the race win on his first day with the team at the 2007 Australian grand Prix.
He eventually went on to win that season after winning 6 out of the 17 races.
Kimi is not only well known for his on track pace and his ice cold nerves. The Finn is well known for his cold and often comical attitude in the post race media sessions.
He often wouldn’t expand on his ideas further than he believed was necessary.
When asked about what he thought about new helmet regulations in his years with Lotus. He offered the aptly response: “helmets are good they protect my head”.
Kimi Räikkönen will be missed on the grid as his career has now hit 20 years.
His years as an Alfa Romeo driver haven’t been the best and Kimi hinted at this in the Netflix drive to survive series. Where he commented on what Formula 1 means to him saying: this is more of a hobby for me now.
Kimi posted on Instagram announcing his retirement with a comment that read: “… this is it.
“… Formula 1 might have come to an end for me but there is a lot more in life that I want to experience and enjoy”.
Kimi will be dearly missed on the F1 scene and his career will always be remembered as legendary.
The question fans are asking now is, who will take his seat next year?
Featured image source: marca.com
