Alfa Romeo revealed their desire to extend Kimi Raikkonen’s contract, saying that they would have done it if he was game.
Raikkonen raced his 349th and final race in F1 in Abu Dhabi. He brought his illustrious career to a close at Yas Marina, and retired from racing altogether.
The 2007 world champion finally rode off into the sunset, saying that he is looking forward to living a ‘normal’ life. He raced for more two decades, and has rightfully earned his time away.
However, Alfa Romeo revealed their desire of extending Raikkonen’s contract, saying that they would have been open to signing him for another year.
As quoted by GP Fans, Team Principal Frederic Vasseur said, “For sure, we would have discussed the point to understand the motivation and so for me it’s…you don’t have to do the year too much.
“It’s true that now it’s a bit different compared to before when we were doing 16 races or 17. Next year you have 23. You have 10 races at the end in 12 weeks or something like this, and that travelling around the world that you need really to have someone fully in.
“I think it’s quite human as a reaction that at one stage you want also to turn the page and move on with the family and so on.”
A formal goodbye
“As a team, we need to have the guarantee that the guy will be fully dedicated, and I think Kimi was very clever into the approach over the summer,” he continued.
“At one stage he said ‘okay, guys, I did 22 years like this’. Perhaps the fact we are not fighting for the podium, it’s not helping him also.
“We have to understand he did 22 seasons, perhaps 19 in teams where he was able to fight for pole position, and this is probably part of the normal frustration.”
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