Raikkonen on what will ‘dictate’ his future, 20 years since F1 debut

Kimi Raikkonen has spoken about the factors he doesn’t expect will “dictate” his future in Formula 1.

The Alfa Romeo driver will begin his 19th season on the grid this weekend in Bahrain, after surpassing Rubens Barrichello as the most experienced driver of all-time during 2020.

Last year though certainly wasn’t the 2007 world champion’s finest, as he finished with just four points after a pair of ninth-place finishes.

But asked whether a better 2021 was necessary to stay in F1 beyond this year, the ‘Iceman’ was philosophical.

“I doubt it’s going to make any difference on what happens next year,” said Raikkonen.

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“Obviously the better we can do, the more fun it is not just for us as drivers but for the team and everybody is happier the better you do.

“So I think in years when you’re not exactly where you want to be, it’s always long years, it’s not as much fun and you can see it on everybody’s faces.

“Where ever we end up in the first race, we keep working and improving and hopefully be up there where we want to be, hopefully regularly challenging for the points.

“But for sure it’s not going to be easy, everybody wants to be there so we just keep working.”

Another factor is the all-new regulations coming for 2022, but again Raikkonen was diplomatic.

“I think everybody is excited to see what happens, but honestly it doesn’t really dictate if I am racing or not,” he explained.

“But I hope for the sport, everybody hopes for the sport that it does what they say it is planned to do.”

Returning to this season, and Alfa Romeo have been touted as a team to watch after a solid pre-season test two weeks ago.

But having been through it all before, Kimi isn’t setting any expectations.

“[I have] no idea where we are,” said the Finn. “The car ran smoothly. For sure there are things we need to improve, we always want more downforce but it’s the same for everyone.

“Where we end up, are we going to be exactly the same as last year or better, who knows? I don’t know, nobody knows in the team, so we are always guessing. I hope we will be better and more in the top-10 fight. Very soon we will find out.”

This month also marks two decades since a fresh-faced 21-year-old made his F1 debut with Sauber in Australia.

And asked about that milestone, Raikkonen was his typical self.

“For sure this sport has changed since 20 years ago, some days are a bit harder than others,” he told Sky Sports. “But that I guess is the fun part of the racing.”