Story By Dan Knutson & Luis Vasconcelos
A new age wave is sweeping through Formula One.
It started in 2015 when Max Verstappen, at 17 years and 166 days, became the youngest driver to start a championship F-1 race. In 2017, Lance Stroll, 18 years and 148 days, went into the record books as the second youngest F-1 driver.
The oldest driver to make his debut in a championship F-1 race was Arthur Legat, who was 53 when he started the 1952 Belgian Grand Prix. The FIA now stipulates that the minimum age to race in F-1 is 18, but there is no mention of a maximum age.
Last year, Lando Norris, George Russell and Alex Abon made their F-1 debuts at the respective ages of 19, 21 and 22. This year, 12 of the 20 drivers on the grid for the first race will be 26 or younger.
Finland’s Kimi Raikkonen, meanwhile, at age 40 will be the oldest driver on the grid. Reigning world champion Lewis Hamilton, 35, is the second oldest.
So does Raikkonen feel old when he sees all those young drivers?
“No,” he replies, “I don’t really think like that. In the end, age is just a number and as long as I feel I can drive as well as I expect from myself, I’m fine with it. As long as I stay healthy, I don’t feel the age effect.”
Raikkonen might not quite still have the speed and reflexes he did when he won the drivers’ world championship in 2007, but he is still going strong. He won the 2018 United States Grand Prix at the Circuit of The Americas, and he could have won more races that season but Ferrari’s race strategy often favored his teammate, Sebastian Vettel.
Still, Raikkonen had three second places, eight third places and finished third in the points in 2018.
Raikkonen spent 2007 through ’09 and 2014 through ’18 with Ferrari, and during his second stint he frequently said he would only remain in F-1 if he could drive for a winning team. Yet, when he lost his Ferrari seat to the 21-year-old Charles Leclerc in 2019, Raikkonen moved to Alfa Romeo Sauber, knowing it was a mid-field team. So does that mean Raikkonen loves F-1 more than he thought he did?
“That’s not just for F-1, it’s for racing in general,” Raikkonen said. “I don’t think I’m now thinking any differently than last year or five years ago. I’m still enjoying it, so I’m staying on. The enjoyment comes from driving the car, as the rest — meetings, media, marketing activities, etc. — are really not my thing. I don’t enjoy all the nonsense, only the racing, and as long as the racing is the bigger part of the job it’s fine.”
Fernando Alonso replaced Raikkonen at Ferrari in 2010 and with no top F-1 seats available, Raikkonen spent 2010 and ’11 competing in the World Rally Championship and made several runs in NASCAR competition. He returned to F-1 with Lotus F1 Renault in 2012.
Did he miss being in F-1 during those two years?
“Not really,” he says. “I enjoyed 2010 and ’11 a lot, but rallying is not racing against other drivers and other cars, it’s racing against the clock and I didn’t find it as enjoyable. I did a bit of NASCAR and it was fine. I enjoyed it a lot and that’s what led me to come back to racing here, because F-1 is the best place to be.”
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