Raikkonen Shares Reasons for Choosing Sauber Following Ferrari Exit

By Joey Barnes, Editor-in-Chief

Kimi Raikkonen put to rest any questions about leaving Scuderia Ferrari for Alfa Romeo Sauber at the end of the 2018 Formula One season.

The 39-year-old Finn broke through to win last weekend’s United States Grand Prix at Circuit of the Americas, which marked his first win in over five years – 113 races – that dates back to the 2013 Australian Grand Prix.

Raikkonen, the 2007 Formula One champion, opened up about the move for the first time since it was announced in September that he signed a two-year deal with the Switzerland-based outfit.

“I think people don’t understand I’m actually very happy where I’m going,” said Raikkonen, who made his F1 debut with Sauber back in 2001.

“I had my time with Ferrari. I won the championship with them. I won many races with them and for me, as a driver, I want different challenges, I want different things and I’m actually very happy to go there.

“It’s roughly 40 minutes from my home. For sure my family will be happy, I’m happy to be with my family. I think it’s probably the best thing. I wasn’t really disappointed with the decision at any point. The only thing that I was interested in was to know what was going to happen and that’s the only thing.

“The rest, I’ve been long enough in F1 to know that things, it doesn’t matter if you have contracts or not, things happen for different reasons. The end result is that I’m very excited about it.”