Kimi Räikkönen will stay in Formula 1 until at least 2020 after signing a two-year deal to join the team with which he made his debut in the championship. Motorsport Week takes a look at the impending alliance between the one-time World Champion and Sauber.
Perhaps Kimi Räikkönen’s greatest achievement in Formula 1 has been to cultivate an image that suggests he doesn’t care.
And it’s our own gullibility that we have fallen for it.
After having lost his Ferrari seat for next year, Räikkönen has now signed a two-year deal with Sauber that will see him return to the Swiss squad where he started off in F1 and race on until at least 41 years of age. And in doing so, he is set to become the most experienced Formula 1 driver in grand prix history, a feat that – even accounting for expanded calendars – is impressive, and one few would ever have envisaged.
Räikkönen’s insouciance towards the non-racing elements of the sport and the ‘Iceman’ persona that has been created, developed and carefully managed over his near two-decades in motorsport has at times been mistaken for apathy. Or worse, the frequent misguided accusation that he lacks proper motivation.
It’s true that in public he lacks the outgoing type personality in the mould of Daniel Ricciardo, and neither does he celebrate pole positions or victories with the unrestrained enthusiasm of a Lewis Hamilton or Sebastian Vettel. But occasionally, just occasionally, there are moments where that carefully constructed mask slips – his barely disguised fury at how last year’s Monaco Grand Prix slipped through his fingers, or his frustration at the unclear instructions in Germany this season.
This is a driver who spent two years in the World Rally Championship, dabbled in NASCAR and yet by the end of 2020 could have started over 330 Grands Prix. He could quite easily stroll off into the sunset, adoring family in tow. But, to put it simply, he is a true racer. Give him a car (or even a snowmobile) and all he wants to do is drive it as quickly as possible. And of course, without the bullshit that surrounds it.
“I enjoy the racing; I don’t think that’s a secret,” Räikkönen said at Monza. “The rest not, but that’s part of the job. Do I want to race? Yes, otherwise I wouldn't be here today. I don’t see that’s suddenly going to disappear. I don’t feel that I drive any differently than 10 years ago. I think I drive pretty well, in my books at least, and that’s enough for me. I wouldn't be here if I didn’t feel I can drive as well as I feel that I should. That my tool to measure and decide when it’s enough.”
Many expected that the end of Räikkönen’s Ferrari career would be the end of his Formula 1 career, in effect forced out, but that has proven not to be the case – and it is an unexpected twist in the silliest of silly seasons that comes as something of a coup for Sauber.
Räikkönen has been frustratingly inconsistent at Ferrari (albeit some of his results skewered by his status as second fiddle) but he remains a top-level Formula 1 driver and his presence will raise Sauber’s status. It will, quite remarkably, be one of only three teams in 2019 to feature a World Champion in their line-up.
Räikkönen is also an extremely marketable asset – witness his ongoing and enduring popularity among fans that has essentially reached cult status – and brings the Finn back to the team where he began his career in 2001, adding a heart-warming element to the story. But this is not going to be a farewell tour or a case of an older driver trying to grab one last pay check.
Sauber too is re-emerging as a serious player.
In early 2016 the team was on its knees and the following season the Hinwil team spent much of the campaign tootling around at the back thanks to its lacklustre chassis and use of a year-old Ferrari engine. The mid-2016 takeover by Longbow Finance alleviated financial concerns and allowed the building blocks to be put into place. In came Frederic Vasseur, a titan of the junior single-seater landscape who wasn’t being given the freedom he desired at Renault. Sauber gave him that freedom. Out went the planned Honda deal, cancelled within moments of his arrival, and instead came a greater alignment with Ferrari. In came Alfa Romeo. In came Charles Leclerc. In has also come renowned designer Simone Resta, who was immediately put to work on the 2019 package, one key signing among many as Hinwil expanded from 320 people to 450. A greater percentage of the renowned facilities at the factory have therefore been utilised, with the right people now put into the right places.
The mentality has also changed. Out went the suffocating atmosphere of merely trying to survive, occupying the back row of the grid, and in came the desire to thrive. Sauber has spent 2018 with a well-balanced car that has, largely, been developed well, owing to an altered approach. The team has brought small updates on a regular basis rather than larger, more comprehensive, upgrade packages on an irregular basis. Pit stop times and consistency have also improved.
On one hand, Sauber’s chassis and engine package has made strides – but then so has the team. It is still only ninth in the Constructors’ Championship, but 2018 was always going to be a case of ensuring that the right platform on which to build was in place. “I think it would be stupid for me to say the target is 10th, ninth, eighth,” asserted Vasseur pre-season, stressing the main ambition was to demonstrate gradual improvement. That has largely been achieved. Sauber has changed a lot in a relatively short timeframe. There is enough evidence to suggest 2019 should be far more profitable, given the long-term nature of Formula 1 projects.
The last time Räikkönen competed for Sauber the team achieved its best-ever classification of fourth in the standings. Given the strength of the current opposition a repeat would be borderline miraculous, but given the calibre of driver it has acquired and the improvement the team has made, a Räikkönen/Sauber combination should be one to keep an eye on in 2019.
