Sauber
consistent and capable of scoring heavily, there were more potential wins that got away than victories he took – Bahrain 2012/13, Spain ’12 and Nurburgring ’13 stand out. By the second half of his final season, the team’s own performance analysis had Grosjean as the quicker driver by several tenths, and that was borne out by his stellar performances during that period. This was a different kind of Raikkonen – consistent, precise and still very good, but not the one of his first F1 career. The 2014 rule changes, with the introduction of the V6 turbo hybrids and the onset of an era of ever-more intense management, also changed the nature of F1. The cars became increasingly heavier, although in their 2017-21 form were the fastest over a single lap ever produced. But moments of Raikkonen magic were rare, with his well-executed final victory in the 2018 United States Grand Prix the high-water mark. Yet through all of that time, and the three years with Alfa Romeo that ended his career, Raikkonen did achieve something remarkable in that he appeared to enjoy it. He’s a character who simply loves driving – and what’s more admits that qualifying was never his favourite discipline with the real joy to be found in longer, consistently pushing race stints. Even in his final season, aged 42, when he struggled badly for one-lap pace his performances on Sunday were generally at a decent level. The machinery was poor, in fact his last three seasons were in the least competitive machinery of his F1 career, but even amid those subdued, monosyllabic post-race interviews that he is famous for, you could still see he was enjoying the pure experience of driving. There could – indeed there should – have been more wins. A more adaptable, studious driver could have taken that incredible talent, rounded it out and had more success. But Raikkonen didn’t need to do that and doesn’t regret it.
But the very fact that Raikkonen did things his own way, didn’t go to the lengths some of his rivals did to sharpen his skillset and yet still won a world championship and was, for a period, the quickest man in F1, is remarkable. And he was able to retire on his own terms, with his head held high with no sign of any regrets from his career. That’s something that many drivers, even successful ones, struggle to do. So among the greats in F1, he stands on his own. He’s not up there with Fangio, Moss, Clark, Stewart, Lauda, Prost, Senna, Schumacher and Hamilton – although if you were to take the Raikkonen of 2005 and extend it over a full career he could have been. But he’s a unique case, on his day one of the best, but over the full spread of his long career he stands as a wondrous anomaly for there were long periods of time when he was merely a good, solid F1 driver. No driver has such a curious career path, which is what will make Raikkonen such an enduringly popular and fascinating driver. From a personal perspective, it was disappointing that the Raikkonen of 2005 was so often absent after he left from McLaren and there was definitely untapped potential. At the same time, you can’t help but respect the way he’s gone about things and also how mighty he was - certainly, a privilege to watch in action. But from the perspective that matters most, Raikkonen’s own personal perspective, he says he wouldn’t change a thing. Judged by the standards of the sport, he underachieved, but by his own standards, he triumphed. It’s that perspective that makes Raikkonen a one-off, and means that he heads into retirement as perhaps one of the best-adjusted characters of all the world champions. After all, how many can legitimately say they were the best in F1 for a time yet still achieve such a seemingly fulfilling balance?
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