Kimi Raikkonen to retire, if so should he just get it over with???

Question

Ive been reading Autosport and it says that Kimi could retire at the end of this season or at the end of next season. He has been in F1 for no more than 10 yrs.

Lets face it he's going to go down as a bit of a James Hunt like character, quick on his day won the title on luck more than outright speed, and liked to get drunk an awful lot, he certainly wont be going down as a legend!!!!

If he is going to call it a day shouldnt he just do it, so we can get someone into F1 who WANTS to be there ie: Anthony Davidson, Takuma Sato, Bruno Senna etc

Answer 1

kimi is the world champion and it seems that he can do it again, so why should he retire? i don't think that he is not motivated, he is just not so impressed with all the publicity that's going on in F1 so he looks bored.

as he always says, he just wants to enjoy his life. that's all.

Answer 2

kimi i donno whats wrong with him.....i wont say ferrari didnt deliver a good car but i would surely say that ferrari didnt deliver a car which was better than McLaren...in the last couple of races ......still kimi must have atleast been ahead of Mr.Massa....maybe ders some reason.... he's not as motivated....but again raikkonen is not kinda guy who thinks much about the world(actually he just thinks about him and his life...pele's presentation,not giving autograph to a woman and not helping tht small girl(womans daughter) who fell down getting a push from him to get up...,pushing a photographer who was standing on his stuff,being ignorant to the press people....and many other...)so if you sit and think he may be thinking tht wat he gotta do in f-1 now?? he's almost 30(oct 17 2008 he will turn 30) now and he's not someone who's won 7 world titles and he knows that he wont surely be in as demand as Schumi and surely be kicked out ...retiring at 31(thts hwt he will be in 2009) but still he could win world championships but he wants to enjoy his life and he has done what he wanted to do prove himself(not to the world...it doesnt matter to him...you know)that he's better than everybody on  the grid and for sure he's got more fan following than anyone in the grid today...(am not talkin about only ESP or GBR ,rather in the whole world)...well but i would have prefered to see him winning couple of more world championship's...but still its not confirmed that he will be retiring at the end of 2009 he's just said in an official press conference that he has never broken a contract in his life and would not do it in the future too ...tht means he wont be retiring this year........

EDIT:

and last years title was no luck just the deserving one got it...mr.hami had to learn the tricks of trade and mr.kimi already knew it....hamiltons mistake lastyear:overtaking at corners which are not made for overtaking....and he continues this mistake till date...what do you think is losing an apex and cutting the corner for which he was given a drive through penalty recently was???!!....

Answer 3

Yes, he absolutely should retire immediately if he's prepared to put a fixed date on it now. Drivers who can see the end of their careers almost always lose their commitment and speed (which, looking at Raikkonen's form this year, makes me think he's already made his decision).

Just look at the former champions:

Among the rare examples who have kept going to the very end after setting a date are: Michael Schumacher, Jack Brabham, Denny Hulme and Keke Rosberg.

Among those who couldn't keep it together once they knew they were going are: Damon Hill, Nigel Mansell, Niki Lauda, Jackie Stewart, Jody Scheckter and Mika Hakkinen.  

Those who hung around far too long (and were no longer competitive well before they decided to go) include: Graham Hill, John Surtees, Emerson Fittipaldi, Phil Hill, Jacques Villeneuve, Mario Andretti and James Hunt.

Those who left (past their prime or not, but still up with the leaders in any case) at just the right moment - all within a couple of months of taking the final decision - include: Alain Prost, Nelson Piquet, Alan Jones, Mike Hawthorn, Nino Farina and Juan Manuel Fangio.

And those who didn't get a choice: Alberto Ascari, Ayrton Senna, Jochen Rindt and Jimmy Clark.

Answer 4

I agree that he needed everything to work in his favour to become champion, but he did raise his own level for the last few races of the season when he hardly had a hope left. If he's lucky he will be remembered for the way he chased Hamilton down rather than the poor performances he has put in since he won the title.

Answer 5

I would like to see   ANTHONY DAVIDSON in a car again

Would Lewis be as good if he dropped straight into a silver arrow ?

I feel its luck,    Rubens did well in a Ferrari,  but now he is just a tail gunner for  one stop  points  with Honda

Is Alonso  driving the renault  to its limit ?

Look at  Webber,   the car is coming on and not before time , and hopefully   A.N will give them the best car next year ??

Answer 6

Kimi started f1 in 2001.

He is the 2nd best driver out there but he is not at his best at the moment, weather this will change or not remains to be seen.

Kimi on one of his bad days is still more talented than Sato or Davidson. I do agree that if he is still like this at the end of the season the he should go.

Answer 7

kimi used to be able to flat out run away w/ races consistently. his reliability at mclaren screwed him on many occasions, whether it was a wheel falling off his car or his rear wing just deciding to fail, or his motor going out. last yr, the first half of the season his luck was really bad. mclaren lead the drivers standings all the way to the end, but raikkonnen found enough to not only to creep up on the mclaren drivers, but  also to use their mistakes to his advantage and thats how he won. the fact that his curse continues at ferrari might suggest that maybe he overdrives his cars, bec ferrari up until he came to the team had very great reliabilty. its a shame that he will be someone that will be overshadowed by his own underachievement. but last year halfway thru the season ppl were counting him out already, but everyone was wrong in the end.

Answer 8

Yes, he should just go if he's already decided to retire. No point hanging about and taking up space if your heart's not in it.

Answer 9

i've heard he could retire from f1 if he doesn't win the championship another time

Answer 10

After completely reading your SICK question.......I came to a conclusion that you are one of the people who Hate Kimi and his success........I dont know why people do it but I am sure that they dont like Competition, The one Kimii can and will give to Lewis Hamilton.

I think of you more as a Fan of Lewis than hatting Kimi. What ever!

Now on your risin point. Kimi Is not retiring from Formula one. Thats for sure.

And getting Drunk does not count on becomming a Legend.

Look at Alonso, There cant be a better example, Look how he is. He is also a Lengend...........

Kimi is very talanted..........more than any one and deserves to win!!!! ENOUGH!!!!!

Answer 11

I think Raikkonen is just planning ahead, that's all. I see your point about letting someone else in though. There are so few F1 seats and it must be so frustrating for someone like Davidson to hear that people already in an F1 seat aren't 'motivated'.

However, Raikkonen has said he'll race out his contract, which ends at the end of 2009, I believe. As for Raikkonen winning the title on luck, I disagree. He drove much better then either Hamilton or Alonso in the last half of the season, and he was compounded by reliability issues with his Ferrari much more then either of the McLaren's...and there's the fact he had to beat Massa as well. Also don't forget that Raikkonen lost out in '05 purely on reliability, and was only a couple of points behind Schumacher in '03 as well.

Answer 12

Kimi remains very much competitive as a driver.

Comparisons with his old self are inevitable, and he seems to be lacking motivation, but to be honest he didn't look like his pants were on fire last year when he won the championship either.

I think he's a bit tired with all this, not bored, F1 is very competitive which means all drivers go to sleep and wake up with one thought in mind, how to succeed.

On and off the track one has to work hard to analyze the situation, to improve.

Kimi is not put off by F1 but he doesn't seem to be motivated enough any more to work his way to the top by any means possible and it shows.

He's being overtaken and he knows it, that's why he's probably set himself a date.

The only reason he will hang around next year is, like he said, to honor his contract with Ferrari plus the fact that he hasn't lost his speed, he's still young, he can still beat anybody.

Answer 13

He said that he'd honour his contract, so he will be racing in 2009, but he always leaves his decisions last minute, and he'll always be a great driver in my eyes.

Here is a quote about him (from J.Todt pre ferrari days):

"He is a genuine and sincere lad. I have always liked him both as a driver and in terms of the way he is out of the cockpit; always remaining the same in what is the difficult world of Formula One."

It's good to see that he doesn't change who he is because of his career. He wants to race in  F1, otherwise why would he endure all of the media etc.

Sorry, he won the title on luck? No, 6 race wins to 4, he didn't get it with either stealth or luck.

P.S Look at the fastest laps before you say that he won more with luck than outright speed.

Answer 14

I don't don't think he should be in any hurry to make any quick decisions. he has been disappointing of late but maybe this is his calm before the storm. His jaded performance couldbe down to many things.

I would be sorry to see him exit when he potentially has so much more to give. Even Mikka regretted retirering when