Kimi Raikkonen- the best person to be in F1

Kimi Raikkonen may not be at the top of his game anymore, as he struggles these days at the back of the grid with Alfa Romeo, but he is someone that makes the sport look a bit different, someone who is truly who he is. All of that and more coming up on who, personally, is one of the best characters in F1. Here are some of the reasons why I think he is needed in the sport, and that when he won’t be, he’ll be missed

First thing first, if you are one of those people that politically correct is important to them, or that you wake up in the morning to criticize what everyone around you is doing, I”ll ask you to leave, because this article is not for you. If you aren’t one of those people that I mentioned, let’s continue, and there are quite a few things that may interest you.

In recent years in F1, we see more and more drivers who just have to always say the right words and basically, say whatever is good at that moment. We don’t see many of the new drivers actually saying what they think or feel, and it seems like they put on a show just so everyone would be pleased.
It is also something we see a lot in the world nowadays, and it gives a feeling that everyone around you is fake or just trying to get something out of you.

However, Kimi is one of the few people left in F1 (maybe only alongside Max Verstappen, but in his case it is in a different way) who tell exactly what they feel and what they think. Raikkonen is in F1 only for driving, and he is pleased, to say the least with the press. You may think that he is a bit selfish, but try to think of it from his point of view. He is in F1 now for almost 20 years, and in every press conference or media event he is asked basically the same questions again and again.

Eventually he is gonna be upset about it and he is gonna answer their question in the unrespective way the journalists deserve. Infact, I am surprised he is still getting to the press conferences’. It may came out funny over the years, but it’s not something which he meant to do, and it’s definitely not funny if you think of it as from his side.

As I said earlier, it seems like in today’s F1, the younger drivers just do everything to please anyone. We see Lewis Hamilton always saying things to try to change or inspire, when it seems at times like even he isn’t believing in what he says. We see younger drivers like Leclerc or Norris using social media in a way to “connect” to fans, when it seems like iin reality, the fans are the last thing they care about (before your’e gonna say I am an hypocrite, i don’t have a problem with what they do, they can marry a goat and smoke weed all day, it doens’t really interest me). Kimi may have now an instagram account (why do I think that at the day he will exit F1 he is gonna delete it?) and he may have changed from the 21 year old who came to the sport in 2001, but you see the actual person, Not someone else who tries to please anyone, not someone pretends to be someone who he isn’t. Arrive and drive.

And personally I always preffer this sort of people. If I could turn the people at workplaces who shout every 10 second to people like Kimi I would have done it immediately

And unlike some of the other drivers, he is mainly cold and blunt to the press, As a person outside, he doesn’t seem heartless at all. In the 2017 Spanish Grand prix, he retired from the race on the first lap as a result of collision on the first corner. Normally you can’t talk to a drive in this sitatuon, as it’s not far from a suicide mission. However, a little Kimi fan in the grandstand started to cry, and alot. So he got invited to the Ferrari garage, and Kimi, with all the dissapointment of retiring from the race just a short time earlier, took a selfie with the kid and signed a cap for him. It doesn’t matter that the kid was invited to the paddock, Kimi could easily saidnl in the moment of frustration. Can you think of another driver who would do such a thing? I follow Motorsport in general for 13 years now, and never saw a driver doing that. Especially not after a bad race.

Kimi is also someone who wakes up to do whatever he wants pretty much, whether it is still driving in F1 or other sorts of racing, or getting drunk and doing other stuff when he was younger, and now having a family life. He enjoys life to their fullest, without having to worry about what anyone has to say. It is also a part which can be very liked about him, as he recently said in response to a joke he did on Instagram, that people today get upest with everything, and that he cares very little for what others have to say. How many of us have such life, being able to enjoy them, without owing something to anyone.

And the last thing is, that although he isn’t young anymore, he is still an incredibly good driver. At the age of 41, he still manages to make some very good races, as we saw this year in the start of the Portuguese GP. He came from a break of doing 2 years of Rallying (I actually saw him at the only stage he won in WRC) to finish 3rd in the Championship and claim a win in Abu Dhabi. So although he maybe ins’t at his peak anymore, he is definitley a great driver, and to this day he is still Ferrari’s last world champion.

Kimi may not be my favorite F1 driver, this goes to Fernando Alonso, who I think is a better driver. However, Kimi is my favorite personality in the Sport. He is straigtforward, honest, and as Sebastian Vettel, his former teammate said, you are an * if you can’t get along with Kimi.

And that’s why I think that Kimi is the best person to be in F1 (although not driver). He says things like they are, he is straightforward, he is funny (although he doesn’t try to be) and for me, and he arrives in F1 to do his job, not change the world. And when he’ll leave the sport, he will be missed, as there is none on the current field like him. Personally, Kimi raikkonen is much more inspiring than Lewis Hamilton, who does whatever is right now by our society.

That’s it. I hope you enjoyed reading my article about Kimi, and hopefully, we will see in the future more drivers who are similar to him.