Former F1 world champion (in 2007) and the most successful Finnish driver in Formula One, Kimi Räikkönen, has announced his resignation at the end of the season ahead of the Dutch Grand Prix. With this announcement, he ends two decades of presence at grand prices around the world and among the Vwin betting odds, drizzled with over 100 podium finishes and almost two dozen victories.
Kimi Räikkönen
Born in Espoo, Finland, Räikkönen has a karting background that he started at the age of 10. At the age of 15, he participated in his first race outside of Finland – while racing in Monaco, his steering wheel broke but he continued to go. After a series of wins at karting, he made the transition to Formula 1 in 2001, after a successful test with the Sauber Formula One team in September 2000.
His first year in F1 was pretty successful – he finished 10th in the World Drivers Championship with 9 points gathered throughout the season. In 2002, he joined the West McLaren Mercedes team (later renamed to Team McLaren Mercedes), improving his results over the years – this partnership brought him his first victories, and two runner-up positions in the WDC. His first year with the Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro was his most successful, though – driving a race car powered by the Ferrari 056 2.4 V8 engine he was able to win the World Championship, gathering 110 points throughout the season.
Räikkönen left the F1 briefly – in 2010 and 2011, he raced in the World Rally Championship and made a short visit to NASCAR – before returning to the greatest show on Earth, joining the Lotus F1 Team in 2012. In 2014, he returned to Scuderia Ferrari (no Marlboro at the time), where he stayed until 2018. Since 2019, he’s been racing with Alfa Romeo Racing – his last three seasons were not as successful as his previous ones, though. This might be part of the reason why he announced his retirement this year.
“This is it”
“This is it. This will be my last season in Formula 1. This is a decision I did during last winter. It was not an easy decision but after this season it is time for new things,” he wrote on his Instagram. “Even though the season is still on, I want to thank my family, all my teams, everyone involved in my racing career, and especially all of you great fans that have been rooting for me all this time. Formula 1 might come to an end for me but there is a lot more in life that I want to experience and enjoy. See you around after all of this! Sincerely Kimi”
