Formula 1: Will Kimi Raikkonen drive for McLaren in the 2019 season?

With Formula 1 silly season heating up, there are plenty of rumors going around. Several involve Kimi Raikkonen. Will he drive for McLaren in the 2019 season?

Scuderia Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen is one of 18 active Formula 1 drivers whose current contracts expire at the end of the 2018 season. The only two active drivers whose current contracts extend beyond the conclusion of the 2018 season are his teammate, Sebastian Vettel, and Aston Martin Red Bull Racing’s Max Verstappen.

Like there have been with pretty much all of the other Formula 1 drivers whose contracts expire at the end of the 2018 season, there have also been rumors surrounding Raikkonen and his future in the sport. He is 38 years old and is currently in his 16th season as a Formula 1 driver. He is in his eighth season overall and fifth season in a row driving for Ferrari.

Raikkonen signed a one-year deal last season to remain with Ferrari this year. That one-year deal was the third consecutive one-year deal that he signed to remain with the team. However, there have been doubts that he will be offered a fourth consecutive one-year deal to continue driving for the team next season, especially since he has not won a race since the 2013 season opener, the Australian Grand Prix, when he was in his second and final season driving for Lotus.

Plus, Ferrari are reportedly ready to replace him with 20-year-old Alfa Romeo Sauber rookie Charles Leclerc. In fact, it has even been revealed that Leclerc has agreed to but not signed a two-year contract to replace Raikkonen starting next season.

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However, if Leclerc, or any driver for that matter, ends up replacing Raikkonen at Ferrari next season, that does not necessarily mean that Formula 1 career of the 2007 champion is over.

With the contracts of McLaren’s two drivers, two-time Formula 1 champion Fernando Alonso and Stoffel Vandoorne, also set to expire following the conclusion of the 2018 season and Alonso not likely to return to the team next year, could Raikkonen reunite with the team for which he drove back from the 2002 season to the 2006 season?

While it has already been revealed that 18-year-old McLaren reserve driver Lando Norris is the likely replacement candidate for Alonso, that does not necessarily mean he will be their second driver, as Vandoorne’s future with the team is still unknown.

As Red Bull Racing’s Daniel Ricciardo, the 28-year-old who has also been rumored as a potential candidate to drive for McLaren next year, pointed out, the team may want to have a more experienced driver in their lineup. If they sign Norris and retain Vandoorne, they would not have that, as Vandoorne is only in his second season as a full-time Formula 1 driver.

However, if McLaren would sign Raikkonen, they would absolutely have a more experienced driver in their lineup. But in typical Raikkonen fashion, the Finn did not want to discuss the matter. Here is what he had to say about the rumors surrounding his future in Formula 1, particularly regarding him potentially driving for McLaren next season, according to Motorsport.com.

"“I don’t know really, I said in 2007 I wanted to finish with Ferrari and at some point it didn’t look like that – now it looks like that again. You never know what comes after this and that. We’ll see. As always, a lot of talk, and I’m not really happy to comment.“I spoke to [McLaren] for sure, but in the past a lot when I used to be there. Like I said I have zero interest to get involved in all the nonsense in my view…You would like to know. I don’t think you ask our opinions for a lot of stuff you guys write, so it goes either way – you can put yes or no. You usually write what you decide yourselves is true.”"

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Will Kimi Raikkonen drive for McLaren in the 2019 Formula 1 season? If not, will he drive in Formula 1 at all next year?

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