177 replies to this topic

[LORDBYRON]

Raikkonen hints at retiring at the end of next year:

 

- http://www.pitpass.c...s-at-retirement

 

Not a bad decision.

[Zesus]

I'm gonna miss him when he's gone. F1 wasn't same without him, it missed his charisma. I can only hope that Ferrari can produce a decent car to suit him for next year to see the best of him.

[Knot]

Not a bad idea, at any rate. F1 is becoming a farce.

 

These retirements are getting close, too:

 

Button (34),

Massa (33),

Alonso (32).

 

Average retirement age of all drivers since 1990 is 35.5.

[LORDBYRON]

I will miss is no nonsense radio msgs

[Seanspeed]

Don't know how accurate this part is, but it might not be about retirement, but about how long he stays at Ferrari:

"was asked how much longer he intends staying with the Italian team."

[Cyanide]

Makes sense. 

 

He'll be 36 in that case and I really can't see him staying in F1 longer than that. Hopefully he can put on a better performance next year and end his career on a high.

[Cyanide]

Don't know how accurate this part is, but it might not be about retirement, but about how long he stays at Ferrari:

"was asked how much longer he intends staying with the Italian team."

 

He said his Ferrari contract will be his last. 

 

And I don't see any other team taking interest, except maybe McLaren but they'll be fishing for something bigger, like Vettel.

[emmanuelrubi]

So this means that he will retire on 2016 which hit us that the only chance for Hulkenberg (& its fan boys) to be on a ferrari relies on Ferrari letting go Fernando Alonso if so they will have Hulkenberg and Kimi on a team which is in no way an improvement to the Scuderia.

[Seanspeed]

He said his Ferrari contract will be his last. 
 
And I don't see any other team taking interest, except maybe McLaren but they'll be fishing for something bigger, like Vettel.

I wouldn't take too much stock when a driver says 'this will be my last team' or whatever. The mind is a very malleable thing and how he feels now may not be how he feels at the end of next year.

I also think many teams would love to have him still. He's not *that* old yet at all.

So this means that he will retire on 2016 which hit us that the only chance for Hulkenberg (& its fan boys) to be on a ferrari relies on Ferrari letting go Fernando Alonso if so they will have Hulkenberg and Kimi on a team which is in no way an improvement to the Scuderia.

In what way was mentioning "& its fan boys?" necessary? Doesn't even make any sense in the context of your post.

Edited by Seanspeed, 03 July 2014 - 17:45.

[SR388]

Hmm. I thought he retired in 2013?

[P123]

With the ways things are going for him this season I'm not surprised he is looking towards retirement from F1. But if things pick up for him I'm sure there is a chance he may change his mind. If they don't, then there's also the chance it won't be his choice for when he leaves F1.

[Vinsin]

"Until my contract is finished and then I will probably stop," came the response from Kimi.


Best bit about Bernie wanting to 'retire' Monza:

"I can't see how they would stop Monza," he said. "It would be very stupid in my view for everyone and for Formula 1. Hopefully it will never happen but we are not the guys who decide. Obviously for Ferrari, it's an amazing place. I've never won there, but hopefully in the future it will happen."

[Risil]

Raikkonen has mentioned his interest in running Le Mans once he's done with F1. So perhaps a Webber-style switch is on the cards.

 

Hmm. I thought he retired in 2013?

 

Ha ha ha.

[wj_gibson]

I'm not so sure drivers should publicly hint at retirement 18 months ahead of time to be honest. It might be taken as a sign of simply wanting to count the clock down whilst being paid for the privilege.

[Frankbullitt]

If he goes, I would like to see him try something else, not sure if Le Mans would suit him, he likes his sleep too much.

[Arska]

Didn't Schumi say Ferrari would be his last team?

[MrFondue]

 F1 wasn't same without him, it missed his charisma.

That's a joke, right?

[Lone]

"Until my contract is finished and then I will probably stop,"

If his contract is 2+1 as reported his retirement could aswell be after 2016.

Edited by Lone, 03 July 2014 - 18:06.

[noikeee]

If he went off tomorrow I'm not sure I could tell the difference, to be honest.

 

Okay maybe that's a bit harsh as this is a guy who can still match Alonso on a good day and his age of 34 is not that ancient. However, his competitive peak was about nine years ago. He's having a massive 2nd chance this season and doing nothing with it. It really doesn't look like his career is going anywhere, and all possible big fat paychecks have been collected. He likes doing other things beyond F1. It's pretty obvious this is a logical conclusion. I just hope the next 18 months aren't a long, drawn out, quiet, uneventful collection of cruises to 9th places to just about fulfill his contractual obligations.

[Kristian]

I suspected as much; I can't see Ferrari wanting to keep him longer than this contract (and I wouldn't be surprised if they booted him this season if they put some performance clauses in), and there's no way he'd drive for a lesser team now. 

 

I will miss him, he just seemed to lose his edge after the 2007 title. Maybe his inspiration from James Hunt rubbed off on him more than we thought. 

[Vinsin]

If he went off tomorrow I'm not sure I could tell the difference, to be honest.

Okay maybe that's a bit harsh as this is a guy who can still match Alonso on a good day and his age of 34 is not that ancient. However, his competitive peak was about nine years ago. He's having a massive 2nd chance this season and doing nothing with it. It really doesn't look like his career is going anywhere, and all possible big fat paychecks have been collected. He likes doing other things beyond F1. It's pretty obvious this is a logical conclusion. I just hope the next 18 months aren't a long, drawn out, quiet, uneventful collection of cruises to 9th places to just about fulfill his contractual obligations.

People with weird Timeline like yours consistently get owned whenever Top Athletes get their zone sorted & turned around.
9 years back, maybe because you were holed up in a cave in 2012/13.

Would love to have seen these faces at Monaco 2014 from Kimi's start to Max Attack. Chilton gave you a few more rants to make.

Edited by Vinsin, 03 July 2014 - 18:45.

[GoldenColt]

I won't miss him at all if I'm honest. Never liked his behaviour and especially the fact he was hailed for it by so many.

 

I barely noticed his absence in 2010 and 2011.

[AlexS]

It depends how 2015 goes. If it goes good and he enjoys he might like to stay.

We just don't know.

Edited by AlexS, 03 July 2014 - 18:50.

[Vinsin]

I won't miss him at all if I'm honest. Never liked his behaviour and especially the fact he was hailed for it by so many.
 
I barely noticed his absence in 2010 and 2011.

Yet, he was a decisive factor in the Championships of 2012 & 2013 for his driving, points scored, podiums & wins. You not liking his personality is more of a personal issue for you.

[noikeee]

People with weird Timeline like yours consistently get owned whenever Top Athletes get their zone sorted & turned around.
9 years back, maybe because you were holed up in a cave in 2012/13.

Would love to have seen these faces at Monaco 2014 from Kimi's start to Max Attack. Chilton gave you a few more rants to make.

 

He was good the last 2 years and did make a mini return to form, but not as good as 2005 which was his best season and what I was referring to. I'm well aware athletes have form fluctuations, and drivers on top of that depend on their machinery, I still can't help feeling this season is just confirming the idea he's past his peak.

 

As for Monaco, sure that could've helped the perception of this season, but still even if that one race worked out he's not met expectations on average. And my expectations weren't even that high tbh.

[Vinsin]

He was good the last 2 years and did make a mini return to form, but not as good as 2005 which was his best season and what I was referring to. I'm well aware athletes have form fluctuations, and drivers on top of that depend on their machinery, I still can't help feeling this season is just confirming the idea he's past his peak.

As for Monaco, sure that could've helped the perception of this season, but still even if that one race worked out he's not met expectations on average. And my expectations weren't even that high tbh.

i am sure Kimi will personally apologies for not having met your (not very high) expectations.

Edited by Vinsin, 03 July 2014 - 19:03.

[Afterburner]

Raikkonen has mentioned his interest in running Le Mans once he's done with F1. So perhaps a Webber-style switch is on the cards.

My favourite line from KR about Le Mans came after his test in the Peugeot 908: "The Le Mans car was interesting but, to be honest, the steering was quite sh*t and the widescreen was really strange."

Good ol' Kimi.

[chunder27]

I will not particularly miss him as a driver, he has been utterly invisible this year at Ferrari and unless he has a better 2015 I think it's a sensible decision.

 

Kimi is a man clearly with hobby rather than job first in F1, he is not interested in anything but driving and developng a car, detests everything else. And why would you carry on if the car your drive is hopeless, the engineers clearly can't get the braking for him or he cant adjust.

 

I would imagine he will be more than happy to walk away, but if the 2015 car is any good he might be persuaded to stay.

[noikeee]

i am sure Kimi will personally apologies for not having met your (not very high) expectations.

 

I'm sure he doesn't give a crap, and that's fine. I'm just saying if this form continues it's getting increasingly harder to understand where would his career continue in F1, and for what purpose.

[Balnazzard]

Well its said that Kimi has 2+1 year deal with Ferrari, so it could just as well be after 2016...depends how next season will go I quess. But anyways this is hardly suprising, Kimi is the oldest driver on the grid right now and if he would make yet another multi-year contract he would be close to 40 before retiring...and I dont think that's what Kimi wants, especially since he would still like to try Le Mans and rally and/or rallycross.

 

Anyways again I find it funny (or sad) that people are saying he lost his edge and motivation after 2007 or even earlier, even when he managed to achieve great results with Lotus during the past 2 seasons....just purely because of what has happened this season...for sure its been difficult for him, but the car is **** and for Kimi its even more hard to drive than its for Alonso. I really hope that before he retires we would see him in competitive Ferrari, fighting for championship for one last time.....really sad thing if this would be the way his career would end, fighting for scrap points.

 

Anyways, I surely will continue to follow the sport after he retires, but I already missed him during the 2 years he was away....I understand that some people never liked him, but for me he was more entertaining both on and off track than majority of the drivers over the past 13 years.

[Dolph]

So this means that he will retire on 2016 which hit us that the only chance for Hulkenberg (& its fan boys) to be on a ferrari relies on Ferrari letting go Fernando Alonso if so they will have Hulkenberg and Kimi on a team which is in no way an improvement to the Scuderia.

 

yes, fanboys, this and that and all kinds of ****, ain't it. Good post.
 

[GoldenColt]

You not liking his personality is more of a personal issue for you.

 

Thanks for stating the obvious.

[masa90]

Sad stuff if f1 loses one of its legends after next year. Not many more left from start of my era, but thats how it goes.

 

Well it is life but im happy to have followed his career closely and supported him troughout from 2001 and will support him even after his retirement.

[Zesus]

That's a joke, right?

 

If it was a joke, you'd knew. So there is no need to ask rhetorical question. 

[Wifey]

to be fair i think alonso has given kimi a wake up call this year, poor car & strategy aside. 

[emmanuelrubi]

In what way was mentioning "& its fan boys?" necessary? Doesn't even make any sense in the context of your post.

 

Without the intention of deviating the topic of this post the reason i put "& its fan boys" is about all that people that thinks he is the Next Schumi and not only he deserves the Ferrari seat but that Ferrari is obligated to sign him just because of a couple of boring performances where he hasn't even been at Podium, he is constantly trashed by a competitive teammate (not Di Resta or Guti which are not very good drivers) making Hulkenberg one of the highest overrated drivers of the grid.

 

Going back to topic, i think is fair to see Kimi retire with Ferrari since he is Ferrari's last champion so it would be pretty sad to see Kimi leave, since this guy has a lot of personality he is not a boring driver like Sutil or Hulkenberg but his attitude is something that we no longer see in this modern F1.

[Ferrari_F1_fan_2001]

Unless the car is good Kimi can be invisible. Fred has overshadowed him but I also question Alonso's commitment to Ferrari also. It could be that they both leave after next year, disgruntled with how their careers have gone.... battling Michael Schumacher in their early careers, winning titles to scrapping for low points.

[Heisenberg]

That's a joke, right?

Raikkonen has charisma, he has "personality', something you guys will never understand. Like Vettel, Schumacher, Senna , Irvine etc. Raikkonen has his personality, he is a "character".

 

As for F1, yes, it's a joke! Thanks Jean Todt (a man I used to admire) and Co. F1 does not need fuel saving, tyre saving, nor small engines, nor FAKE DRS overtaking. When I say F1 I say RACING, not lame "Eco drving"! Raikkonen, Alonso, Hamilton, Vettel should all retire. F1 has become a JOKE anyway.

Edited by Heisenberg, 03 July 2014 - 19:34.

[Seanspeed]

Without the intention of deviating the topic of this post the reason i put "& its fan boys" is about all that people that thinks he is the Next Schumi and not only he deserves the Ferrari seat but that Ferrari is obligated to sign him just because of a couple of boring performances where he hasn't even been at Podium, he is constantly trashed by a competitive teammate (not Di Resta or Guti which are not very good drivers) making Hulkenberg one of the highest overrated drivers of the grid.

But what do 'the people' have to do with what you said? Nothing. It was just a very poor attempt at taking a dig at Hulkenberg and anybody who disagrees that he's some average driver like you think. Which is reinforced by you labelling him a 'boring' personality as well. Its a shame that some people let biases get to them that much.

[maximilian]

In his current form, he would be kind of lucky if he even makes it to 2015, but I sure hope he'll see a better second half of the season...

[artista]

Like it was pointed out earlier in this same thread, I don't see anything surprising in Räikkönen's statements, because of his age (he's not that old, but at that age F1 drivers do think about it) and because it is quite consistent with his previous statements.

What he could do after retiring from F1? Sincere answer: no idea. If I'm in the mood of speculating a bit, I would say it might depend on how fond he is on having to deal with media again. He likes le Mans, but he doesn't seem like the LMP1 cars that much (as Afterburner pointed out). Doing le Mans in a Ferrari with his friend Toni Vilander? It is wild speculation, but as far as we don't consider it too seriously, why not?

Another option would be Nascar. He enjoyed it much more than people originally thought and age would not be a problem. I could see too much media attention could be something he might consider

And then, he talked about rallycross just a couple of days ago and he has a professional motocross team: he could just jump on a motocross bike whenever he wanted without any media attention and have fun.

What I can't imagine is such a guy not driving something with 2 or 4 wheels. But then, who knows?

[masa90]

I hope people with nothing but negative things about Kimi would just try to limit bashing. Thought out responses are ok ofcourse even if they are negative but it just feels bad to read some stuff.

[bourbon]

He is amazing.  I hope he goes on to do another series, if not more F1.   However, he has thrilled for many years, so I'll be content whatever he chooses to do.  Rock on Kimi! 

[Jovanotti]

The day will come when he leaves F1 for good, be it after 2015 or 2016. Until then, I'll try to enjoy every bit of driving, and hopefully he can end on a high. F1 will not be the same for me when he's gone.

[swerved]

I won't miss him at all if I'm honest. Never liked his behaviour and especially the fact he was hailed for it by so many.

 

I barely noticed his absence in 2010 and 2011.

 

I wonder how many might say exactly the same about the first 4 people in your sig.

 

He is amazing.  I hope he goes on to do another series, if not more F1.   However, he has thrilled for many years, so I'll be content whatever he chooses to do.  Rock on Kimi! 

 

 

Pretty much the same for me. he's been a great addition to F1.

[GoldenColt]

Raikkonen has charisma

So it's charisma if he acts like a jerk most of the time?

God forbid other drivers would brush off questions from the press like he does for example, hell would break loose.

Edited by SophieB, 05 July 2014 - 19:49.

[bub]

I suppose it has to happen sometime. I'll miss him, he has been a quality driver and I have always found it refreshing that he doesn't care, just tells it like it is and isn't fake for the cameras.

Edited by bub, 03 July 2014 - 20:53.

[RuleyRamundo]

End 2014 is good for me. About time charisma left. Charisma Kimi = Rude and a Bore.

[Atreiu]

I'll be sad to see him go and it will inevitably have this sour taste of unaccomplished talent/potential. I still believe he is the fastest and most talented driver to enter F1 between 2000 and 2009. He just had lots of bad luck and missed the obsessive meticulous drive guys like Shumacher and Alonso share. Anyhow, WDC and 20 wins is nothing to be ashamed of.

 

What puzzles me is how unwise Ferrari seem to have contracted someone so expensive and near retirement whose motivation suddenly has become so questionable. I do not blame him though. Current regulations are suffocating when it comes to development and it is very very hard to turn it around unless the car is fast right out of the box. This Ferrari isn't, there is no garantee the next will be either. But why didn't Ferrari take the opportunity last year to hire any younger driver over whom they could gamble?

[Atreiu]

So it's charisma if he acts like a jerk most of the time?

God forbid other drivers would brush off questions from the press like he does for example, hell would break loose.

Do you understand charisma is something entirely intangible and the perception of it varies greatly from one person to the next?