Former Scuderia Ferrari driver Kimi Raikkonen ended his long career, with the 2021 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix being his last Formula 1 race. German automobile magazine ‘Auto Motor und Sport’ talked to the 2007 Ferrari world champion about his new life, the unusual start to his career, the rally adventures and his cars.
You decided to retire last winter. Was it the first time you thought about quitting?
Raikkonen: No. I had already been out of Formula 1 for two years. Even before that, I kept wondering whether I still needed traveling and all the commitments, or whether I should do something else. But that’s the way it is in life. You have good and bad days. One day you think enough is enough, and the next everything is forgotten again.
And what was different this time?
Raikkonen: Traveling became too much for me. I’ve been away from home too often. This is my place now. I hate schedules. I’ve lived it all my life. Now I’m looking forward to going into the day without any fixed plans.
Whatever you’re going to do, it’s going to be a different life. Are you afraid of it?
Raikkonen: I don’t see why? No, I’m looking forward to it. Many people have warned me: If you are at home for six months, the ceiling will fall on your head. If this has happened to them, or if they feel this bad, then maybe they should find a new home or another family. I love being at home and am looking forward to spending more time with my family and doing normal things. My free time is more important to me than anything else.
So you’ve been able to taste this life before?
Raikkonen: Yes, a little. But I was also traveling during my rally times. There were fewer events, but they lasted longer.
You keep saying that you don’t have any fixed plans yet. But basically: Can you live into the day in the long run, or do you need some form of challenge?
Raikkonen: No, I don’t need a challenge. I can be at home for a week without stepping outside and I’m still a happy person. I really have zero plans. Just the feeling that I don’t have to do this or that anymore gives me anticipation. First of all, the family is in the main picture. Then we see what happens. There is no reason to think today about what might interest me in the future.
Mika Häkkinen said two years after his retirement that the toughest experience for him was just being average in normal life, while as a racing driver he was always fighting for first place.
Raikkonen: What’s wrong with just being average? I’m not the type of person who is always looking for a challenge in normal life or who absolutely wants to be the best in every discipline. No longer. Maybe it was when I was younger. It was all a game or a race. This is no longer my thing.
You were never a man of great or many words. Was it surprising that you were still so popular?
Raikkonen: Yes, yes. I’ve always said that I do things the way that is best for me. You can try to be someone else for a year or two, but then you don’t enjoy your life anymore. It has always been important for me to show myself as I am. I never talked to people or said things just to please them. Some people like it, others don’t. In my case, it seems that some people liked it.
Then why did you start opening up on social media platforms?
Raikkonen: A friend of mine does that. Whatever appears on it is my choice. I also do it relatively rarely. In fact, I’ve thought about it for a long time. After all, it does no harm and can be used in many ways.
Is a career like yours still possible today? At that time in Mugello, the stopwatch, not some junior program, made the difference for you.
Raikkonen: I do believe that it is still possible. There are probably more young drivers trying to get into Formula 1 today than they did then, and places are still tight. The teams follow the talents much more intensely today than they did in my time. If you are fast in karting, you have a better chance of being seen and getting into a program than you did back then. Today every team has such a support program. But it’s still a long way from there. And a lot can still happen up to Formula 1.
To this day, you are the driver who made it into Formula 1 with the fewest races. Today you are the driver with the most Formula 1 starts. Would you ever have thought that?
Raikkonen: I got from karting to Formula 1 quickly. It took maybe two years. A full season of that. I drove 23 races before my first Grand Prix, so almost nothing. Today you won’t get a license there anymore. And you have to be at least 18 years old. So it’s impossible to do it again. Today they are pushing you into a path that will cost you a lot of money. I was really lucky there. Also that I had people around me who had connections to the Formula 1 scene. In addition, the timing was right. Of course, I also had to perform when it came down to it. All in all, many pieces of the puzzle had to be set correctly. Without my manager, I would never have had a chance to get a place.
You almost missed your GP debut in Melbourne. The team had to find you because you didn’t show up in the garage. Have you always been that cool?
Raikkonen: I was just tired. That happens to me a lot. When I was younger, I could sleep anywhere, anytime. That doesn’t work so well in old age. It’s not that unusual at all. Rally drivers also often sleep between stages.
Do you regret anything? Should you have gone to a certain team sooner, later or not at all?
Raikkonen: Not really. I wouldn’t change anything in my career, even if it meant that I could had won more races or world championships. If you start to think like this, it can turn out the other way around. You change one step in your career and the whole career changes. Maybe I wouldn’t sit here with you at all. I am at peace with myself. And if something was bad in retrospect, I can live with it.
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Which of your many Formula 1 cars did you enjoy the most?
Raikkonen: The good cars. Because you can race for victories with it.
Which one challenged you the most?
Raikkonen: No car is good enough that it doesn’t challenge you. If you stay below the limit for a second, all cars are easy to drive. There are no difficult tracks either. Only with the limit does the challenge come. No matter in which car, on which circuit. I find it difficult to define what the word “difficult” means in the context of driving a car. Every car, good or bad, has its pitfalls. For fun, the cars were perhaps the best in the mid-2000s. But it can also be that everything was always better in the past. Sure, today’s cars are bigger, heavier but they also have more grip and are faster. For a fair judgment, I would have to sit in a car from the past ten laps and then ten laps in one of today. Then the choice may be different. Maybe then I’ll say: Shit, the car from back then isn’t as great as I remember it.
Have you collected your racing cars?
Raikkonen: I only have the Ferrari car that I won my last race in 2018. But it is drivable, I just need help to start it again.”
Do you collect your trophies?
Raikkonen: Most of them, yes. When I started at McLaren, I had to hand in the originals, but got replicas. They’re in boxes in a storage room somewhere. I think one of them is in my office. I have time now. At some point I’ll maybe get it out and put it somewhere.
Which teammate was the hardest to beat?
Raikkonen: They were all difficult to beat. Each in his own way. At 20 I was certainly a little faster than at 40. I think the overall package plays the decisive role. There were years when the team-mate was faster, then I was again. There is no pattern. I can’t say that any one completely stands out.
Would you have driven for the title in the rally if you had started your career there?
Raikkonen: I would like to think that it would have been the case, yes. When I drove my firs rally in a Fiat as a career changer in 2009, I was in third place before I crashed. I believe that experience is even more important in rallying than on the racetrack. So you know the tracks. Everything is always new in the rally. The track, the grip. On a rally test track that you know inside out, you may be as fast as the best. But a real rally is a different story. I was close to the point where I would go blind for records. That’s the key. As a newbie, I always had to think after something was read to me. A mistake is punished very differently than with us. Then you lie on the roof or hit an obstacle. In rallying too, there are many very good drivers who never became world champions.
What did you learn from your rally experience for Formula 1?
Raikkonen: Most of all the concentration. It’s much more intense in a rally car. Because you are always confronted with new things. No matter what motorsport you race in, whether karting or motocross. It always helps and never hurts. Unfortunately we have so many races that we don’t have time to drive anything else on the side.
When you switched from Ferrari to Sauber, it must have been clear to you that you were no longer driving for victories. Was it hard to accept?
Raikkonen: Even with the top teams, there were years when I didn’t win anything. You always have to strive for the possible and make sure that you enjoy racing. When you’re younger, you might think differently about it. I’ve had my victories and my world championship. If I had a problem with it, I would not have signed with Sauber. I didn’t do anything else than before. They give me a car and I drive it as fast as I can. For us, a sixth or seventh place is a victory. As long as you stay a realist, that’s not a problem.
How would you like people to remember you?
Raikkonen: However they want. It doesn’t change anything about what was or what is in store for me.
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