Lewis Hamilton Puzzled by Ferrari’s Decision to Axe Raikkonen

Ferrari’s decision to axe Kimi Raikkonen has been appreciated as well as questioned by fans and paddock alike. While Ferrari have been criticised for letting go of Kimi Raikkonen, they’ve been thoroughly appreciated for banking on a young talent like Charles Leclerc. Raikkonen’s decision to join Sauber on a two year deal has also left people puzzled.

One such person to question Ferrari over letting go of Raikkonen is Lewis Hamilton. Hamilton has quite vocally expressed about his admiration of Raikkonen and how the sport will dearly miss him when he’s gone. 

In an interview with the Swiss newspaper Blick, Hamilton was asked if the changes within Ferrari for 2019 will help the Briton seal his fifth driver’s championship.

“I don’t think Kimi is going to change in the last races,” Hamilton said. “He is an extraordinary professional and a fantastic driver. He remains one of my favorite drivers, and I’m convinced that Ferrari is losing a very important driver.

“It does not make sense to me.”

Hamilton and Raikkonen were close competitors in 2007, the year in which Raikkonen won his championship. It was also Hamilton’s debut season in Formula, in which he partnered alongside Fernando Alonso at McLaren.

Even Sebastian Vettel admitted, he’ll be sad to let Raikkonen go.

“One thing you can express in numbers and results and so on but I think that’s not the most important thing,” Vettel said on the build-up to the Singapore Grand Prix. “The most important thing if you are teammates is the respect that you have for each other.

“And probably the degree of bullshit going on between each other. With Kimi it’s been zero from the start and I don’t think it will change until the end. Obviously it’s a great chance for Charles [Leclerc] but it’s sad to know Kimi is not there any more because I think we get along very well even though we are different we have a lot of mutual respect.”