Kimi Raikkonen chooses Sebastian Vettel and Antonio Giovinazzi as the two drivers he plans to stay in touch with during his retirement.
Raikkonen’s long and illustrious F1 career came to and end with the culmination of the 2021 season. His name has been synonymous with F1 for over two decades. Since in debut in 2001, he’s taken part in 353 races, won 21 of them and was the 2007 World Champion.
The former Ferrari driver was never a huge fan of the media and the spotlight. He liked to stay away from the crowd, and was close to only a handful of people in the F1 grid.
Four-time World Champion Sebastian Vettel has been a good friend to Raikkonen to over the years. We’ve often seen the two spend time off the track. In several interviews taken before, the two F1 legends have highlighted the fact they love to ‘play badminton against one another’.
Sebastian Vettel and you used to play badminton against each other!
Kimi: “We haven’t played badminton against each other for a few years. I even tried to let him win a few times in the past. Probably his plan is for me to get so old that he can finally beat me (laughs).”
— tami. (@Vetteleclerc) December 18, 2021
Vettel and the Iceman were teammates at Ferrari from 2015-2018. It was during this period that we saw these two icons spend most of their time together.
Raikkonen left Ferrari ahead of the 2019 F1 season as he moved to Alfa Romeo Racing. At the Swiss team, he teamed up with Antonio Giovinazzi, who’s someone the Finn considers his friend.
Kimi Raikkonen considered only Vettel and Giovinazzi to be his friends in Formula 1
In an interview in 2022, Raikkonen revealed that he wasn’t particularly friends with anyone in the F1 grid. The only people he considered to be his friends were Vettel and Giovinazzi.
The 42-year old frequently praised Giovinazzi throughout the course of their time together as teammates. We even saw them share some light moments in media events organized by the Formula 1 team.
“For me Sebastian and Antonio (Vettel and Giovinazzi) are friends. Apart from them I don’t have many,” Raikkonen said.
Time to celebrate a legend, time to thank a true friend ❤️#Kimi #Legend #Thankyou pic.twitter.com/6DutZvPb2i
— Antonio Giovinazzi (@Anto_Giovinazzi) December 10, 2021
Now that Raikkonen has left the sport, and does not plan on returning anytime soon, fans have wondered if he’ll miss anyone from the grid. When asked if he’ll stay in touch with anyone, Raikkonen said, “With Antonio and Sebastian of course!”
“Seb and I won’t be seeing each other as much, but I have no doubt that we’ll see each other from time to time. It’s been a while since we played badminton against each other.”
“It would be nice to do it again. And since I’ll have time to train, it will be even harder for him to beat me.”
Also read: Kimi Raikkonen reveals if he will still be watching F1 in 2022 following his retirement
