Formula 1: Race cancellations could delay Kimi Raikkonen’s big day

Formula 1 race cancellations due to the coronavirus outbreak could put Kimi Raikkonen’s potential record-breaking day on hold.

Alfa Romeo Racing’s Kimi Raikkonen is set to enter his 18th career season of Formula 1 competition this year, and he is set to enter it with 312 starts to his name.

The 40-year-old Finn passed two-time champion Fernando Alonso for second place on the all-time Formula 1 starts list in the 2019 season-ending Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. He now trails only Rubens Barrichello.

Barrichello made 322 starts over the course of his 19-year career, meaning that Raikkonen is slated to tie his record 10 races into the 2020 season and break it in the following race.

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But despite the fact that the 2020 schedule was confirmed back in August of 2019, it is still not yet known where, exactly, Raikkonen is slated to tie and then break this record in the upcoming season.

He had been slated to tie this record in the 53-lap French Grand Prix around the 15-turn, 3.63-mile (5.842-kilometer) Circuit Paul Ricard road course in Le Castellet, France on Sunday, June 28 and break it in the 71-lap Austrian Grand Prix around the 10-turn, 2.683-mile (4.318-kilometer) Red Bull Ring road course in Spielberg, Styria, Austria on Sunday, July 5.

But as a result of the coronavirus outbreak, the Chinese Grand Prix, which had been scheduled for Sunday, April 19 as the fourth of a record-breaking 22 races on the 2020 schedule, was removed from the calendar with little hope of being added back on a later date.

The 56-lap race around the 16-turn, 3.388-mile (5.452-kilometer) Shanghai International Circuit road course in Jiading, Shanghai, China had been on the schedule each year since 2004, and as one of the season’s first four races since 2009.

Now he is slated to tie the record in the Austrian Grand Prix and break it in the 52-lap British Grand Prix around the 18-turn, 3.661-mile (5.892-kilometer) Silverstone Circuit road course in Silverstone in part Northamptonshire and part Buckinghamshire in England, United Kingdom on Sunday, July 19.

Of course, there are bigger things in life than racing, and the safety of drivers, team members, race officials, media members, fans, etc. takes precedence over a race taking place just to say it happened, and this is a very serious issue.

Whatever happens with the schedule happens at this point. Hopefully the Chinese Grand Prix will remain as the only cancellation, but we can’t be sure due to the unpredictability of this situation, as there are already talks of multiple other races that could end up being axed.

But on a lighter note, fortunately for Raikkonen, he never cared about this record to begin with.

Here is what he had to say about the matter last year, according to Motorsport Total.

"“I’ve never hunted any numbers. I do not care if it’s 20 or 20,000, it does not matter. And if I no longer feel that, then I stop.”"

Then just over a month ago, he reiterated this sentiment when asked about how excited he is (isn’t) to reach his 323rd start. Here is what he had to say, according to Formula 1.

"“On that, not [excited].”"

He then went completely off-topic to further show his “excitement”.

"“It gives me nothing, but I’m excited now to have another go and we can improve from this year and learn the lessons from what we’ve done wrong and what we’ve done good and get a bit closer to the front, but time will tell, it’s way too early. Once we start running the cars in the first race…we will get a good idea.”"

When will Kimi Raikkonen officially become the most experienced driver in Formula 1 history? Hopefully it happens sooner rather than later and the conditions are safe enough for all 21 races that remain on the schedule to take place on their scheduled dates.