The dramatic match on 12 December in Abu Dhabi's F1 almost left people with little missing that it was Kimi Raikkonen's last game before retiring. On lap 26, Raikkonen broke off the track when the car failed at Turn 6 brakes, and although the front wing was replaced at the emergency pit stop, it was impossible to continue the race, and Raikkonen had to announce his retirement.
The 42-year-old Raikkonen silently stepped out of his Alfa Romeo 7 car, and the always cold and arrogant Finnish "Iceman" ended his 21-year (2001-2021) F1 career in the most low-key way. "The end result doesn't matter, now that it's over, I'm looking forward to life after retiring." The concise and concise statement after the game is very much in line with Raikkonen's tone.
In 19 seasons, 349 races, in a very long career, Raikkonen has only won the annual championship once, but in the F1 car world, it is definitely one of the most popular drivers, and even Schumacher has said enviously, "Kimi has more fans than me!" "Why is Raikkonen so favored? Perhaps as F1 officials wrote on social media when awarding Raikkonen the honor of the best driver in the Abu Dhabi regular race: "Kimi is an era, Kimi is an attitude!" Finnish 'Iceman', always the best. ”
A regret caught between two eras
The day before their retirement, the "old club" Ferrari team held a short and rare farewell ceremony for Raikkonen, and they were all important to each other. Raikkonen has joined Ferrari twice and won the only Driver of the Year in 2007 as a Ferrari driver, the most recent time Ferrari has won the Drivers' Championship.
The 2007 season ended with the Brazilian Grand Prix, a game in history. For the first time since 1986, three drivers have competed for the championship in the final leg. The fierce battle took place between Alonso, F1 freshman Hamilton and Raikkonen, who had just moved to Red Bull. In the standings, Raikkonen is not dominant, he is seven points behind Hamilton and three points behind Alonso. Hamilton, who had only to finish fourth to win the championship of the year, was too anxious to rush off the track, and then there was a transmission failure, and finally only finished seventh. Raikkonen won the championship with a one-point advantage over Michael Anderson and Alonso of McLaren Racing.
Before winning this hard-won title, Raikkonen's F1 career was always bumpy. In 2003 and 2005, he lost the battle against Schumacher and Alonso by a narrow margin. In 2003, Raikkonen's results improved by leaps and bounds in his third year of F1, and he reached the podium 10 times, dragging the championship battle into the final station, but in the end, Schumacher lifted the world championship trophy for the sixth time with a two-point advantage, and Raikkonen was second. Two years later, Raikkonen has been accompanied by bad luck, he unfortunately withdrew from the race in the last lap of the European Grand Prix due to a broken right front wheel suspension, the British Grand Prix qualifying leaked oil, the German Grand Prix hydraulic failure, the Italian Grand Prix qualifying was fined 10 places for changing the engine, and he suffered a cylinder explosion in the main race... Despite this, with seven races, Raikkonen finished second in the drivers' annual standings, this time surpassing Schumacher but being overpowered by Alonso.
In addition to the continuous bad luck, Raikkonen was described as a "driver who was not born at the right time". Despite his outstanding driving skills, he was caught between the Schumacher and Hamilton eras. "Seven Champions" Schumacher announced his retirement in 2006, and another "Seven Champions" Hamilton entered the circle from 2007.
When the fledgling Hamilton won his first race in Canada in 2007, the 21-year-old Briton described the feeling as "more wonderful than love". Raikkonen, who has a very different personality from Hamilton, replied coldly when asked about this: "Maybe Lewis is still a child." At that time, Raikkonen had reached the top nine times, he was the champion of that year, but he was firmly suppressed by "child" Hamilton.
The "Iceman" represents an attitude
Calm and straightforward, not good at words, happy and free, such an "iceman" personality has won more fans for Raikkonen.
Raikkonen, who always has a poker face, is definitely a "disaster" for journalists. As we all know, Raikkonen didn't like the post-match interviews. When a reporter asked him, "What's the most exciting time about race weekend?" Raikkonen replied "start"; "What about the most boring moment?" Answer: "Now".
After the 2009 season, Raikkonen terminated his contract with Ferrari, retired from F1 during the golden period of his career, and spent two years competing in the World Rally Championship (WRC). In 2012, Raikkonen, who returned to F1, signed with Lotus. At Abu Dhabi that year, when the convoy had been pointing at the intercom, Raikkonen burst out: "Leave me alone, I know what I am doing." In this campaign, Raikkonen rose to the top in one fell swoop and eventually won the third place of the year that year. After two years with Lotus, Raikkonen returned to Ferrari in the 2014-2018 season before moving to Alfa Romeo. But at this time, F1 has long belonged to the era of Hamilton and Meben.
To this day, "Leave me alone" is still Raikkonen's mark. At Abu Dhabi this year, Alfa Romeo deliberately printed this classic line on the engine of Raikkonen's final race, "Dear Kimi, We will leave you alone now. ）”
If you log into Raikkonen's social media profile, you can see that the Iceman is saying goodbye in his own way. In the introduction column, Raikkonen, who has always been concise, wrote the word "Retired", leaving only a cool back for the world. (Photo/ Osports)
Author: Wu Shu
Edit: Gu Miao
Editor-in-Charge: Shen Lei
*Wenhui exclusive manuscript, please indicate the source when reprinting.