Fernando Alonso and Kimi Raikkonen started their trade in F1 together in 2001, and now with the latter’s retirement, the Spaniard shares about his relationship.
Fernando Alonso and Kimi Raikkonen were contemporaries and served in F1 for a really long time. However, at the end of the 2021 season, Raikkonen decided to retire.
Meanwhile, Alonso continues to serve in the sport. He shares about his time together in the sport and talks about the relationship between the two.
Fernando Alonso is starting his 323rd race this afternoon 👏
Only Kimi Raikkonen has started more F1 races#BelgianGP 🇧🇪 #F1 pic.twitter.com/KEn2dq2C63
— Formula 1 (@F1) August 29, 2021
“When you are in that moment and you make your debut, you don’t have a clear idea what the future will bring to you,” he said on the Beyond the Grid podcast.
“Obviously, we both had a fantastic time in Formula 1, we both won a championship which maybe, in 2001, we were not sure of that success at that moment.
“But I’m happy to share so many years with Kimi; he is a very good character in Formula 1 and we will miss him a lot next year.”
Also read: Kimi Raikkonen gives his honest opinion on the time shared with two-time world champion
Fernando Alonso talks about shared perspective
Adding further, Alonso also talked about how both drivers had similar viewpoints on the sport at times. The Spaniard believes he and Raikkonen had shared belief on the fakeness around F1.
“He’s sincere. He’s not playing any games. He is what you see,” Alonso explained. “Part of this mask that we see from him, being very cold and not talking too much and things like that, there is a different person inside.
“Not the Iceman. I think he’s quite warm inside; maybe you need to see him outside of racing to see the real Kimi. We meet sometimes in the airports, outside the paddock, in restaurants… partying sometimes!” Alonso laughed.
“After the races, he’s one of the guys that you can talk honestly with on different topics, and he’s straight to the point. I share many of his ideas and thoughts about Formula 1 and this world. What we live here is a bubble and not real life.
“We have all these facilities here, we have this easy life, we travel in good planes, we are in five-star hotels, we have all the help from everyone but, on Sunday night, we are normal people and we tend to laugh about how fake this world becomes.”
Also read: Kimi Raikkonen believes time faded away his raw pace
