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Kimi Räikkönen to retire from Formula One at the end of the 2021 season. The Finn, currently the most experienced driver on the grid with 344 Grand Prix entries, will leave the sport after a record 19 seasons, in which he won 21 races, one World Championship and the hearts and admiration of millions of fans worldwide.

Date of birth:	17th of October 1979
Nationality:	Finnish
Place of Birth:	Espoo, Finland
Starts:	341
Poles:	18
Wins:	21

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Kimi made his debut in 2001 with the Sauber F1 Team, helping the Swiss constructor to a then-best fourth place in the championship, before moving to McLaren and Ferrari. Following a two-year hiatus in 2010 and 2011, he returned to the sport with Lotus before making a comeback to Ferrari. He then returned to Hinwil to compete in three further seasons with Alfa Romeo Racing ORLEN – a perfect conclusion that made a full circle of an astonishing career.

Alfa Romeo Racing ORLEN would like to express all its gratitude to Kimi for the incredible seasons spent together in these two stints; for the work ethic, the passion for racing, the determination to succeed he displayed from his first test in Fiorano to last week’s session debriefs; and for being a unique character, always true to himself – something that endeared him to everyone who worked with and for him.

Kimi Räikkönen

The team wishes Kimi all the best for an incredibly well-deserved retirement, in the knowledge that he and his family will greatly enjoy his presence at home after the final chequered flag in Abu Dhabi. In the meantime, we are looking forward to a successful conclusion of the 2021 season together, to bring such an illustrious career to the ending it deserves.

Frédéric Vasseur, Team Principal of Alfa Romeo Racing ORLEN: “There isn’t any driver out there like Kimi Räikkönen. His presence, his charisma and his unique attitude, matched with the innate skill that made this team give him a chance back in 2001, have made him a legend of our sport in a way that numbers and statistics struggle to convey. It was a pleasure to work with him in these years and I believe I speak on behalf of everyone at Alfa Romeo Racing ORLEN, from the shop floor in Hinwil to the garage here in Zandvoort, when I say a driver like Kimi has written some indelible pages of our team’s, and our sport’s, history.”

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Biography 

He’s the world-famous racing driver who just wants to be left alone.

Räikkönen has a cult status in F1 like no other driver of his generation, but if you ask him why he just shrugs.

Maybe it’s because of the rugged, raw talent that inspired Sauber to give him his debut in 2001 – and re-sign him for 2019. Or the fast and fearless racing that led to memorable McLaren wins. Or the never-say-die attitude that clinched the 2007 world title for Ferrari by a single point. Or maybe it’s because this is the ‘Iceman’ who jumped straight into a Jacuzzi on his yacht after retiring in Monaco and who enjoyed an ice cream when a soggy Malaysian GP was red-flagged but still live.

Räikkönen literally does his talking on the track. Out of the car, the Finn is famously taciturn. Although those who know him well say privately he is an amusing bon viveur, as well as a devoted family man.

Meanwhile, his legions of loyal fans have to rely on revelations in his radio transmissions. And maybe Räikkönen himself best summed up the enigma of the Iceman when he said on the airwaves: “Leave me alone, I know what I’m doing.”

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Racing career:

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Kimi Räikkönen 2021 interview:

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