Kimi Raikkonen is a veteran of 338 race starts in Formula 1, making him the most experienced driver in history, but at 41 years of age, is it finally time for the Finn to hang up his helmet? Former drivers have suggested so.
The Alfa Romeo driver has been involved in two crashes this year that were entirely his fault, both of which were down to a lack of concentration.
In Portimao the 2007 world champion drove into the back of his Alfa Romeo team-mate, Antonio Giovinazzi, and admitted after the race that he wasn’t looking at the track ahead.
“Basically it was my mistake, I was checking something on the steering wheel, changing a switch that I got wrong coming out of the last corner so I had to change it again and then I just drove into him, so clearly my mistake,” admitted Raikkonen.
Last weekend Raikkonen collided with Sebastian Vettel in Austria, in a move former driver Ralf Schumacher described as “embarrassing”.
“That was totally senseless from Kimi. He just drove straight into his car. What he did was embarrassing,” Schumacher told Sky Sports Germany.
Vettel had passed Raikkonen on the final lap and was almost completely clear of the Alfa Romeo, before Raikkonen drifted into Vettel’s path, causing both to spin out.
David Coulthard, a former team-mate of the Finn, hinted that it might be time for Raikkonen to call it quits.
“I was 37 when I quit,” said Coulthard. “Suddenly you start making mistakes and don’t want to admit that it’s your fault. But it is.
“I also noticed that it had to do with poor concentration, especially towards the end of a race. We also saw that with Michael Schumacher in his last year.”
Raikkonen gave a rather nonchalant response when asked about the clash: “We came together and that was it, in the end it didn’t change the end result as we would have both fallen a bit short of the points.”
Raikonen was one of the very best F1 drivers. He was always enigmatic, but on his day the “ice man” was one of those very few really special drivers who could get more out of a car than almost anybody else. Sadly, he is embarrassing himself now. He has quite simply gone on too long. He should have retired at the end of the 2020 season. When any former World Champion can’t beat the like of Giovinazzi in the same team then it really is time for him to hang up his helmet. Spa would be a good place for him to bow out.
A week earlier Charles Leclerc made a similar move to the Raikkonen/Vettel incident, across into Pierre Gasly, smashing his own front wing and bursting the latter’s rear tyre, then later in the race cut sharply across Raikkonen who had to take swift action to avoid losing his front wing under Leclerc’s rear wheel. I haven’t noticed any calls for his retirement. Raikkonen will make up his own mind when it’s time for him to hang up his helmet, and needs no advice from has-beens who never achieved anything close to what he has.