Raikkonen: I'd walk away if I wasn't driving well
Kimi Raikkonen says he would walk away from Formula 1 if he felt he was not performing at 100 percent.
The Finn has often struggled to match the pace of teammate Sebastian Vettel during their first year together in 2015, the German going to win three races to the Finn's none.
This season, Raikkonen and Vettel are equal on points in the standings, although the four-time champion has retired three times with car problems.
Raikkonen is yet to secure a new contract with Ferrari for 2017, but the 2007 world champion feels he is still performing at his best.
"I've always said I would not be here if I didn't enjoy it or felt that I can't drive, or do it 100 percent," said Raikkonen. "It hasn't changed.
"It doesn't always mean if you have a bad results you are not 100 percent giving your best or motivated or something, it's not so simple.
"If I wasn't motivated, I wouldn't be here wasting my own time or the team's time.
"I obviously enjoy it more when the results are better, but it doesn't mean that you drive better than you drove before. It's just that the whole package is better around you and we do a better job improving the package."
Raikkonen, 36, insisted his plan is still for Ferrari to be his last team in Formula 1.
"I've always said, nearly 10 years ago, that my last team would be Ferrari and it's still like that. What happens in the future I don't know. Time will tell, but I usually don't make plans for a very long future.
"Things change in life very quickly and hopefully I'll stay healthy and we'll see what happens in the future. I haven't really put a lot of thought into it but I'm sure there's a lot of nice things to do in the future."
Share Or Save This Story
Subscribe and access Motorsport.com with your ad-blocker.
From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.
Top Comments