“I’m happy to share so many years with Kimi”– Fernando Alonso opens up about his relationship with Kimi Raikkonen

Tanish Chachra | 04/01/2022
"I'm happy to share so many years with Kimi"– Fernando Alonso opens up about his relationship with Kimi Raikkonen

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.

“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

Post Edited By: Tanish Chachra
Alfa Romeo Alpine Fernando Alonso Kimi Raikkonen

About the author

Tanish Chachra

Tanish Chachra is the Motorsport editor at The SportsRush. He saw his first race when F1 visited India in 2011, and since then, his romance with the sport has been seasonal until he took up this role in 2020. Reigniting F1's coverage on this site, Tanish has fallen in love with the sport all over again. He loves Kimi Raikkonen and sees a future world champion in Oscar Piastri. Away from us, he loves to snuggle inside his books.

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