Kimi Raikkonen's 20-year Formula 1 career coming to an end may have been a sad moment for his huge fanbase, but the Finn himself is delighted that his time in the sport is behind him. The 2007 World Champion called time on his illustrious career at the end of 2021, choosing to retire at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix after three years with the Alfa Romeo team. Notorious for his reluctance to engage in anything outside of the driving aspects of the sport, Raikkonen didn't hold back as he outlined how he's relieved to be leaving the vagaries of F1 behind him. "There are so many things that are making no sense, at least in my head, what happens here,” Raikkonen told Autosport. "All kinds of bullshit that goes around. We know it, but nobody says it. Things that I don't think that even should be. "A lot of things are such fake things in here. It's good to be out. Mentally, it's very good to be out of all that bullshit for a while." With Raikkonen withdrawing to his Swiss mansion with his wife Minttu and his children to enjoy retirement while he decides on what he'd like to do next, he said: "I know what I'm looking forward to when I get out. "There's so much more [bullshit] than people see from the outside."
Raikkonen sees "more money, more politics"
Raikkonen's time in the sport has seen F1 change significantly, with budgets increasing to huge amounts before the current financial regulations were introduced. It's in those blown-up budgets that Raikkonen believes F1 became more and more frustrating for a no-nonsense temperament like his own. "Money, for sure, money has changed [things], like any sport," Raikkonen said. "The more money you put in, the more politics. In general, in any country, there are games that people never know until you are inside the whole thing. "For sure money plays a big part, and power. I guess people want to have power, this and that. I think there would be a lot of good politicians that would do well in actual politics!" As for whether he feels the sport has lost its way and is no longer purely about racing, Raikkonen said: "It's been like that for many years, many many years. It's just maybe people realise it more now."
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