The 2021 Formula 1 season, where big events took place, comes to an end with the Abu Dhabi GP to be held on Sunday. In this season after events, there is one more event that is as striking as the rivalry between Hamilton and Verstappen and upsets all F1 fans; Farewell to F1 by Kimi Raikkönen.
Proving his advanced piloting skills to the whole world since 2002, and seeing 103 podiums and a world championship throughout his career, Raikkönen leaves Formula 1 with the 350th race he took the driver’s seat. Alfa Romeo, with which Iceman has been racing for 3 years, once again saddened all F1 fans with the way he chose to say goodbye to the Finnish driver. Let’s take a closer look at the details of that message.
“We’re leaving you alone now”
For Raikkonen’s farewell 350 race, Alfa Romeo added the following inscriptions: “Dear Kimi, we leave you alone now.” This message may seem simple at first glance, but for those who don’t know what “letting alone” means, it’s a brief summary. Let’s move on.
At the 2012 Abu Dhabi GP, Raikkonen had a little tension with the Lotus team, where he was sitting in the pilot’s seat. Lotus pit wall made the following words over the radio to inform the Finnish driver; “Well, Kimi, you’ve got Alonso behind you, we’ll keep you updated on the distance and your progress.”
Normally, we see pilots responding to such informative messages as “okay, okay” casually. However, Raikkonen’s reaction in that race was a little different. Iceman told the race engineer: “Leave me alone. I know what I’m doing.”
Here are those moments:
These words of Raikkonen created a huge explosion afterwards. In fact, the words “leave me alone” became synonymous with Raikkonen and thousands of items such as t-shirts and hats containing these words were sold.
The message that Alfa Romeo wrote on the vehicle is exactly the answer to these words. The team that Raikkonen has raced with for 3 years made a gesture for the last time for Raikkonen, who is generally seen as an introvert and outspoken, and chose the phrases “Dear Kimi, we leave you alone now” as a farewell sentence.
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