Kimi Raikkonen shocked by the cost of karting. Kimi shocked by the cost of karting.

Kimi Raikkonen has been driving Formula 1 since 2001, except for two seasons. The Finn says the road to Formula 1 is a lot more difficult for young drivers than it was twenty years ago. The Alfa Romeo driver was particularly surprised by the huge sums of money at the karting level.

High amounts

Kimi joined the Sauber team as a young driver with only 23 races under his belt. Like any other driver, he spent his time on the karts. The Finn looks at the high sums of money that have to be put down nowadays in order to be able to participate in karting.

“Motorsport has always been a very expensive sport, even when I was young. But now I hear that professional karting is about as expensive as Formula Renault was 20 years ago when I was still driving in that category. That is crazy,” says Raikkonen according to Speedweek.com.

Raikkonen junior in F1?

“That makes it much more difficult for a young person to enter motorsport. The good junior teams now get all the support from major manufacturers,” continues Raikkonen. Raikkonen’s eldest son, Robin, is now five years old. The Finn says he has no idea what his son would want to do. “No idea, ask today if he wants to go karting, and he wants to do something else tomorrow. That’s the way it is. He’s having fun.”