‘I did it my way’ - Kimi Raikkonen on his 20-year F1 career and future plans

The 41-year-old Finn announced on Wednes💎day that he would be leaving at the end of the current campaign, bringing to a close a 20-year spell in the sport.
Raikkonen, who won the 2007 title with Ferrari, revealed he made the decision over the winter and sa🅺id it was an easy call.
Speaking about his c🦂areer ahead of this weekend’s Dutch Grand Prix, the Alfa Romeo driver said there is nothing he w▨ould change about his F1 tenure.
“I’ve been a long time here but, in the end🔯, luckꦡily Formula 1 has never been my life,” Raikkonen said.
“In a way, it takes a lot of time from my life, but it has never been, let’s say, the main thing in my life. I’ve always li🐲ved my life on the outside and do normal ൩things. But on the other hand, it’s fun.
“I had a good run, I’m happy with what I achieved,” he continued. “Obviously you want to win but it’s not ea෴sy to win.
"I wanted to win a championship, I got𝓰 close qui🌸te a few times and then managed to win it with Ferrari, So I’m especially happy to have won it with them.
“But, as for the rest - str🎉ength or ꦗnot strength - I don’t care, I had fun and I did it my way.
“I wouldn’t change any single thing even if I could. Otherwise, maybe I wouldn’t be sitting here if I change♊d anything. No ꦜcomplaints, I cannot really complain.”
Asked if he considered retiring from F1 earlier in his care🔴er, the Finn joked: “The first plan was to always to be retired before I turned 30, but that didn’t work out!
“I can tell yo♕u for sure there were m🐽any, many years in which I was so close to stopping. It could have been in the middle of the year or at any day of the week!
"It happened to be now, a long time after what was in my first plan🃏. Obviously I was 💙away for a couple of years, so, like I said before, without that for sure I wouldn’t be here today.
“I know how it is, obviously I was doing rallying at that time, it’s just quite nice to be putting it out, let’s ⛦put it this way.”

Raikko♎nen revealed he has no plans for t😼he future other than spending time with his family, explaining he no longer wants to be tied down to a schedule.
🌳“No✤, [I have] no plans,” he said. “I mean, I don’t want to have some schedule, for a long time.
“Obviously I’ve been 18 or 19 years in Formula 1 since I started, I did those two years in rallying and there was always a schedule, a “wh🍸at is coming next on this date, on that date” and I don’t want that.
“That’s for sure one of the big reasons why I also to do something else. The life doesn’t go because of the racing, whatever it is outside Formula 1, there are other sch꧅edules, the family, the kids schools an𒀰d kindergarten and that stuff.
“But also🌳 I don’t want the family life to be dictated by are ꦡthe races, the test or whenever you fly to the next work.
“I’m not in a rush, I haven’t even thought about it yet.🍃 I’ve known this situation for quite a while, so there’s always opportunities to do this or to do that, bಞut right now I’m not even interested in thinking about it.”
Asked if he expected to race competitively on a sporadic basis in the future, Raikkonen said: “If I would know right now, I would tell you, but like I said, I🌟 have zero plans.
“I’m not really planning to make any pl♛ans for right now. So like I said, I🌠 want to enjoy the time without the schedule. The schedule can be our family’s schedule, and I’m happy with that.
“I’m looking forward to it. Who knows, maybe there will be some ra♔cing, maybe not. I really don’t know.”

Lewis regularly attends Grands Prix for mahbx.com aro♒und the world. Often reporting on the action from the ground, Lewis tells the stories of the people who matter in the sport.