Every Year is the Same Old Story for Raikkonen

Ferrari driver Kimi Raikkonen has said that all the speculation around his Formula 1 future is “the same story every year”. The veteran Finn is confident of deciding his next move with Ferrari.

The 2007 F1 world champion’s Ferrari spot has come under threat amid reports linking Red Bull driver Daniel Ricciardo to the Italian manufacturer. The Australian clearly stated that he had no arrangement or contract negotiation with Ferrari. In light of the comments, Raikkonen simply shrugged off the rumours.

The Finn joked that he had been riding these F1 stories for most of his career. So far, he isn’t concerned about his Ferrari future but knows that sooner or later the rumour may turn out to be true.

“It’s been the same story every year since I can remember, maybe 15 years, every year I’m out,” Raikkonen said in Baku. “If you keep saying the same thing, sooner or later it becomes true and you get it right.

“I’ll do my stuff on my side. I enjoy the racing, that’s the only reason I’m here. The rest we’ll see how it plays out. There’s always a lot of talking every year, not a lot of it is true, but we’ll see how it ends up.”

His current contract expires at the end of this year, while teammate Sebastian Vettel’s contract runs until the end of the 2020 season. However, the Finn is putting all these thoughts in the back of his mind until later in the 2018 season.

“In the team we know what we want to do and if all those things fit together with all our feelings we’ll see what happens,” he said. “Right now all I want is to do well, it’s a long season and a long way until the end of the year.”