Formula 1: Could Kimi Raikkonen follow Fernando Alonso’s path?

Kimi Raikkonen, like fellow Formula 1 champion Fernando Alonso, signed a contract to leave Scuderia Ferrari and drive for a lesser team. Will he follow Alonso’s path?

Kimi Raikkonen is currently in his 16th season as a Formula 1 driver and his eighth season driving for Scuderia Ferrari. After driving for the team from the 2007 season through the 2009 season, he returned to the team in the 2014 season and has driven for them ever since.

However, the 38-year-old Finn is set to leave the Italian team once the 2018 season comes to an end, as he has signed a two-year contract to drive for Sauber, the team he drove for in his rookie Formula 1 season back in 2001, as the replacement for rookie Charles Leclerc, who is set to replace him at Ferrari.

Could this mean that the 2007 Formula 1 champion will follow the same path as two-time Formula 1 champion Fernando Alonso within the next few years?

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While the 2014 season was Raikkonen’s first at Ferrari since the 2009 season, it was Alonso’s fifth and final season driving for the Scuderia, as he signed with the team ahead of the 2010 season. The 32-time Grand Prix winner signed with McLaren ahead of the 2015 season, and he has driven for the team ever since.

But driving for McLaren, simply scoring points has become an accomplishment for Alonso. Scoring points being an accomplishment is something that he had not been used to over the course of his highly successful Formula 1 career.

Since returning to the Woking-based team, which he also drove for in the 2007 season, Alonso has not finished a single race in higher than fifth place. Over the course of the last four seasons, he has scored 126 total points. In the 2014 season, his worst season as a Ferrari driver, he scored 161 points.

With no desire to continue struggling to score points, Alonso has announced that he will be retiring from Formula 1 at the end of the season. All signs point to the 37-year-old Spaniard, who also currently competes in the World Endurance Championship, making the switch from Formula 1 to IndyCar next year, and all signs point to McLaren partnering with a team or teams, like Andretti Autosport and/or Harding Racing, to field an entry for him.

After two more seasons driving for Sauber, could Raikkonen follow a similar path, possibly even with McLaren, the team he drove for from the 2002 season through the 2006 season?

Raikkonen clearly still has a desire to drive a race car or he would have retired knowing that he will likely never finish a race in the top five driving for Sauber. But after two seasons struggling to score points, will he still want to drive for the Swiss team?

Several Formula 1 drivers, including Max Verstappen, Kevin Magnussen, Jolyon Palmer and even four-time champion Lewis Hamilton, have discussed the possibility of driving in IndyCar in the future. If Raikkonen still has the desire to race after his second stint at Sauber, could he follow the path that Alonso is expected to take? It isn’t likely, but it is very possible.

Could Kimi Raikkonen follow Fernando Alonso’s expected path once he retires from Formula 1, or will his retirement from Formula 1 also be his retirement from professional motorsports? We will likely not know the answer to this question for at least another two years.