Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen has been on the hot seat for much of the 2018 Formula 1 season. But will he return to the team in 2019?
Scuderia Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen is in his 16th season as a full-time Formula 1 driver, and he is in his eighth season as a driver for Ferrari. He drove for the team from the 2007 season through the 2009 season, and he has driven for the team since the 2014 season.
In each of the last three seasons, the 38-year-old Finn has driven for Ferrari on a one-year contract. However, ever since he signed a one-year contract last season to remain with the team this season, there have been doubts that he would get another one-year contract to sign to remain with the team in the 2019 season.
However, could another one-year contract be on its way for the 2007 Formula 1 champion?
In June, it was revealed that Ferrari are ready to sign 20-year-old Alfa Romeo Sauber rookie Charles Leclerc to replace Raikkonen in the 2019 season. Leclerc is a member of the Ferrari Driver Academy, and he won the 2016 GP3 Series championship as well as the 2017 Formula 2 championship. Later in June, it was revealed that the 20-year-old Monegasque driver and Ferrari had agreed to a contract but that he had not yet signed it.
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Leclerc currently sits in 15th place in the Formula 1 driver standings, and he has had a fantastic start to his rookie season by Sauber standards. In the six-race span from the Azerbaijan Grand Prix through the Austrian Grand Prix, the fourth through the ninth race of the 2018 season, he recorded five top 10 finishes, including a career-high sixth place finish in the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, and 13 points as a result of them.
Leclerc’s sixth place finish was the highest finish by a Sauber since Felipe Nasr finished in sixth in the 2015 Russian Grand Prix. Prior to Marcus Ericsson’s ninth place finish in the second race of the 2018 season, the Bahrain Grand Prix, Sauber drivers had secured just five top 10 finishes combined in the last 48 races (96 races combined) dating back to the 2015 season, and prior to the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, Sauber drivers had scored just 11 points in the last 48 races (96 races combined), also dating back to the 2015 season.
There is really no doubt that Leclerc would make a great replacement for Raikkonen. However, what Raikkonen has done as of late has caused a question to arise: will Leclerc even be given the chance to replace him next year, or will Raikkonen return to Ferrari yet again?
Ever since it was revealed that Ferrari are ready to sign Leclerc, Raikkonen has not finished a race outside of the top three, meaning he has secured five consecutive podium finishes for the first time since the 2007 season when he won the championship.
Raikkonen finished in third, second, third, third and third place in the French Grand Prix, the Austrian Grand Prix, the British Grand Prix, the German Grand Prix and the Hungarian Grand Prix, respectively. He is the only driver who finished all five of those races on the podium. Only one other driver, Mercedes-AMG Petronas Motorsport’s Lewis Hamilton, finished on the podium in four of those five races.
Raikkonen has been doing exactly what has been asked of him as far as trying to help teammate Sebastian Vettel win his fifth career Formula 1 championship, and he sits in third place in the driver standings himself thanks to his own success.
Would Ferrari really bother to fix what isn’t broken?
Do you believe that Kimi Raikkonen will return to Ferrari in the 2019 Formula 1 season, or do you believe that the 2018 season will end up being his final year driving for the Maranello-based team?