Recently retired Formula 1 driver Kimi Raikkonen says he is happy to be out of the sport because of the “bulls**t” that surrounds it.
Raikkonen won the world championship in 2007 and drove for a range of teams including Ferrari, McLaren and Alfa Romeo. He retired at the end of the 2021 season and says it’s good for his mental health that he has stepped away.
“There are so many things that are making no sense, at least in my head, what happens here,” Raikkonen said as quoted by Motorsport.com. “All kinds of bulls**t that goes around. We know it, but nobody says it. Things that I don’t think that even should be.
“A lot of things are such fake things in here. It’s good to be out. Mentally, it’s very good to be out of all of that bulls**t for a while.”
Raikkonen believes the sport has been changed by money and politics and insinuated there are games in the F1 you only know about if you’re in it.
“Money, for sure, money has changed [things], like any sport, the more money you put in, the more politics,” he added. “In general, in any country, there are games that people never know until you are inside the whole thing. You probably know this.
“For sure money plays a big part, and power. I guess people want to have power, this and that. I think there would be a lot of good politicians that would do well in actual politics!”