There’s a reason they call Kimi Raikkonen the ‘Iceman’ so it’s no surprise the Ferrari driver isn’t allowing rumors surrounding his retirement to get him hot and bothered.
Raikkonen’s future has been the subject of much speculation with talk of him leaving the sport sweeping through the paddock over the past few weeks.
But the 34-year-old Finn, who sits 10th in the drivers’ championship, says he is only concentrating on finishing his career with Ferrari.
“I’m not a young guy anymore so obviously I want to do something more in my life than just Formula One,” Raikkonen, who is set to become a father early next year, told CNN’s The Circuit.
“But I have no plans, I will finish my career at Ferrari, we’ll see in the future.”
Ferrari is enduring a difficult time with the team having failed to win a drivers’ title since Raikkonen triumphed in 2007, while it currently trails Mercedes by 292 points in the constructors’ championship.
On Wednesday the Scuderia announced changes to its management structure, with Luca di Montezemolo, the man who presided over two decades of great success since taking up the role of chairman in 1991, to step down on October 13.
Two years after becoming world champion, Raikkonen quit the sport after being pushed out of the team following Fernando Alonso’s arrival.
He spent two years trying his hand at rallying before returning to the sport with Lotus in 2011.
It was during the British Grand Prix at Silverstone in July that rumors of Raikkonen’s impending retirement began to surface.
But Raikkonen, who began his F1 career with Sauber in 2001, says suggestions he is planning to leave the sport before his deal expires in 2015 are wide of the mark.
“No I never said that,” responded Raikkonen after being asked if he had said he was ready to quit the sport.
“The only thing that I said was that I will finish my career in Ferrari, F1 career in Ferrari, then people came up with ‘it’s end of this year, it’s now, it’s then’.
“With newspapers they just try to make rumors, wanting to be the guy that writes something up, it’s just rumors.”
