"Kimi Raikkonen fully encapsulates what Formula One is all about."
A true F1 legend is leaving the sport. Kimi Raikkonen is a man of the old school of Formula One. Formula One isn't really about advancing road cars or advancing a creed or colour, a sponsor, a worthy person or an unworthy person. It's not about the engineering or about the aerodynamics or the interviews, the fan interactions, the stewards, the rules, the strides in safety or the strides in speed.
Formula One is in her dotage at 71 years old, she has seen many names come and go, many champions, many not-quite-champions and many Christ-anything-but-a-champion. There have been many radical changes that have occurred in all aspects of the sport, which pundits talk about ad nauseam. However I would hazard a guess to say, that if you took Kimi Raikkonen and dropped him into the 50's, 60's, 70's or 80's there is a high probability he would still end up in a small seat with four open wheels on each corner, a big engine in the middle and highly flammable liquid in the bits in between. Careening around a piece of tarmac, be it in Monaco, Azerbaijan, Brazil or a windy field in Northamptonshire.
Formula 1 was designed by people, for people, starring people, who love racing. That's it. Racing, not the flotsam in between. Sit these mega-money Jet-Set Playboys in 20 golf carts and see what happens, I bet you'll end up with a similar thing to what we watch on a Sunday afternoon. Granted it would be slower and probably more violent, but it will keep that air of competition, and probably some pretty foul language. Kimi Raikkonen fully encapsulates what Formula One is all about - 'Give me a car and let's see what I can do, and bollocks to everything else.'
Don't just take this from me, ask the man himself.
"In F1 too many things overshadow the racing. There is too much politics."
"Formula One would be paradise without the media."
"You don't drive races on paper."
"Driving is the only thing I love about Formula One"
"Leave me alone, I know what I'm doing"
These quotes, are from a man who is the distilled essence of Formula One. Formula Absinthe. A man who wants to be left alone to drive as fast as he can, in whatever he can.
People are very sad to see the departure of Kimi from the sport, from what I have seen on social media. Calling him the last of the old guard, the last of the drivers who say what they want and treat it as a true hobby, a fun pastime. The James Hunt's and Graham Hill's of the sport. I won't disagree with them, but I will say I'm happy to see him go. A man of his talent, skill, stature and experience to be struggling for a Top 10 Finish (pun intended) isn't ideal in the least. Kimi has already retired once before, and found himself rallying, so this is clearly a man who won't stray too far from going fast for no reason. Now Kimi has time to spend with his family rather than an endless purgatory of airports, hotels and boring debriefings, not that I think he listened.
As he leaves his seat at Alfa Romeo Sauber, another Finn, in the form of Valtteri Bottas, will take his place to try his best to muscle a mediocre motor into the points. In fact I'm amazed it's taken Raikkonen this long to chuck the towel in. After spending the last few years being pushed about from here to there, without much interest, like Grandma's musty stamp collection, my favourite racer is
leaving Formula One. Head held high, and I'm happy to let him go.
So...
Leave him alone, he knows what he's doing.
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