“20 years have gone quickly” – Kimi Raikkonen has officially left Formula 1 and is already preparing his life with friends and family.
Kimi Raikkonen called an end to his stellar F1 career in a disappointing way, crashing out of the season finale in Abu Dhabi. It marked an end to his two-decade journey, which also saw him win the world title in 2007 with Ferrari.
Kimi Raikkonen for @ScuderiaFerrari 👀
151 starts (2nd most all-time)
10 race wins
52 podiums
7 pole positions
1 world championshipAnd the team had a special presentation for him ahead of his final F1 race 👊#AbuDhabiGP 🇦🇪 #KiitosKimi pic.twitter.com/995uwARdiD
— Formula 1 (@F1) December 12, 2021
But Kimi being Kimi, is cool about how his career finished, and is already looking forward to moving away from racing and closer to his friends and family.
“Sometimes it goes like that unfortunately. There was some issue with the wheel nut and there was a small moment already the lap before and then it went, but you know, it happens, it’s honestly the way; the end result doesn’t matter. It doesn’t matter how it comes to the end, it’s the end now and yes, I’m looking forward to it.
“I feel good, like I said, I’m looking forward, let us say, to normal life that I know outside of F1 anyhow.
“Yes, a lot of good wishes and this and that. I’m not a big fan of [send-offs] but it’s great to see all the support and a lot of great people here. But now, I’m happy I lived through it, and I’m happy to go and do normal things.
“Of course, I will miss a lot of the great people I met over the years; 20 years have gone quickly, I made lots of memories, some good, some bad, and these are going to stay with me forever.
“Ending any race with two retirements is always disappointing, even more so when it’s the final one of the season.
“We really wanted to give our drivers a better send-off and finish the season with a good result. As we head into the off-season, we’ll need to take the positives from the year past and use them to build on them for 2022,” he added, with Alfa Romeo set to field Valtteri Bottas and Guanyu Zhou next season.”
