Formula 1: Will Kimi Raikkonen retire after the 2018 season?

By Asher Fair | Jun 30, 2018

SPIELBERG, AUSTRIA - JUNE 29: Kimi Raikkonen of Finland driving the (7) Scuderia Ferrari SF71H (Photo by Charles Coates/Getty Images) /

Kimi Raikkonen’s future in Formula 1 is anything but certain. Will he retire once the 2018 season reaches its conclusion?

Scuderia Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen is in his 16th season as Formula 1 driver. He began driving in the sport back in the 2001 season, and he has driven in all but two seasons, the 2010 season and the 2011 season, since then.

Raikkonen is currently in his eighth season and his second stint driving for Ferrari, as he drove for the team from the 2007 season to the 2009 season and returning to the team in the 2014 season after taking two seasons off and spending two seasons driving for Lotus. He has driven for Ferrari ever since.

Ever since last year when Raikkonen signed his third consecutive one-year deal to remain with Ferrari this season, there has been speculation that he might not return to the team or even to the sport in the 2019 season.

Raikkonen is one of 18 active Formula 1 drivers whose contracts expire at the end of the 2018 season, so his situation is only somewhat unique. But of those 18 drivers, he happens to be the oldest at 38 years old, and he happens to be the one with arguably the most desirable ride.

In fact, it was revealed last week that Ferrari are ready to replace Raikkonen with 20-year-old Alfa Romeo Sauber rookie Charles Leclerc, who is a member of the Ferrari Driver Academy, next season.

In fact, it has even been revealed that Leclerc has already agreed to a two-year deal to replace Raikkonen but that he has not signed a contract to do so yet. While no deal has been confirmed in regard to this situation, it would seem as though Raikkonen returning to Ferrari next year is almost out of the question.

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Assuming Raikkonen does not return to Ferrari next season, would that mean that the 2018 Formula 1 season is his final season in the sport? There have already been rumors that he may reunite with McLaren, the team for which he drove from the 2002 season through the 2006 season, a span during which he earned the first nine victories of his Formula 1 career. However, he has refused to discuss these rumors.

While it would make sense for McLaren to hire Raikkonen to replace 26-year-old Stoffel Vandoorne to give the team a more experienced driver assuming two-time Formula 1 champion Fernando Alonso leaves like many people expect him to and assuming he is replaced by 18-year-old McLaren reserve driver Lando Norris, would it really make sense given Raikkonen’s recent history?

Since returning to Ferrari in the 2014 season, Raikkonen has not won a single race, and this is the case despite the fact that Ferrari, Mercedes-AMG Petronas Motorsport and Aston Martin Red Bull Racing have been the only three teams responsible for winning any of the 105 races since the 2013 Australian Grand Prix, which is ironically the most recent race that Raikkonen has won.

Also, since returning to Ferrari, Raikkonen has finished no higher than fourth place in the driver standings. Meanwhile, since four-time Formula 1 champion Sebastian Vettel joined Raikkonen at Ferrari in the 2015 season, Vettel has earned 11 victories, and he has finished everywhere from second to fourth in the standings. He has finished ahead of Raikkonen in every season since joining him, and he is on pace to do so comfortably yet again this year.

While many people chalk this up to the idea that Ferrari prioritize Vettel over Raikkonen, Raikkonen may very well not have what it takes to win races any more. All of the statistical evidence points in the direction suggesting that he may very well be at the end of the road.

However, if Raikkonen’s recent results are overlooked and he is offered a contract for next season by a team such as McLaren so that he can be a veteran teammate to a young driver, would he really turn it down? Even if he is offered contract by a team other than a winning team, it is hard to imagine him turning it down. After all, he hasn’t won a race in more than four seasons since he returned to Ferrari, so it isn’t like he expects to compete for race wins and championships anyway.

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Will the 2018 Formula 1 season be Kimi Raikkonen’s final season as a driver in the sport? If not, which team will he drive for in 2019?

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