Kimi Raikkonen was back in the F1 paddock during Italian GP weekend at Monza, where he spoke about his life these days, kids and Andrea Kimi Antonelli.
On the weekend when Mercedes announced the hiring of Antonelli as its F1 driver for 2025 season alongside George Russell, the veteran ‘Kimi’ paid a visit to Monza to spend time with his family as a guest of the Kick Sauber outfit.
Raikkonen not just greeted one of his former teams, but paid visit to several others during his stay and spoke to media about his whereabouts these days. The Finn is spending most of his time with family, especially helping his son Robin in karting.
He is now staying in Italy but he has not finalised with certainty that Robin will take up racing eventually. “Good, good, I’ve been visiting a lot of people, but it’s nice to be back,” said Raikkonen to official F1 website. “I think the kids wanted to come, they enjoyed, and we saw a lot of old friends, so I cannot complain.
“Then there were obviously a lot of new faces in the teams that we visited, so it changes quickly. It’s been busy. We moved to Italy, I’ve been a mechanic for Robin [as he settles into karting], Rianna is doing gymnastics, and we have a small one [Grace], so a busy family life! But it’s been great.
“He’s [Tobin] enjoying. Everything is going nicely. We’ll see. If something comes or not, who knows? But he’s having fun – that’s the main thing,” summed up Raikkonen, who noted that he watches F1 as there is interest still, but can’t do it regularly due to his commitments and family time.
“Not much, because there’s always something that we’re doing with the kids and the family,” said Raikkonen. “When [there’s] been time when we’ve been home and it’s been on TV, I watch, I still have the interest, but I don’t know everything like I used to know, obviously. But it’s good.
“It’s interesting to see always how it goes. It looks like things are getting closer now in the racing, so it’s good for F1 and all the fans.” The obvious question popped up to him was about his namesake being announced during the weekend.
He noted about youngsters becoming part of F1 these days where simulators are helping immensely. “I heard, when we came here, somebody said that they announced it,” smile Raikkonen. “It’s great. A lot of new faces, I think, coming next year, a lot of new drivers that have been signed to F1
“It’s good for the sport, and it’s also great to have an Italian in the championship. It’s good for everybody, I think. I’m sure they know how to get him ready. Obviously, these days they have simulators. When I started, there was no simulator, you jumped in and got going. I think it’s much easier [to move up to F1], in many ways, now. You can do a lot of testing, obviously, and get ready. I wish them and all the rest all the best!”
Here’s him at Kick Sauber: https://x.com/stakef1team_ks/status/1829849110150549898
Mercedes: https://x.com/MercedesAMGF1/status/1832065722467402233
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