Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton can learn vital F1 lesson from retiring Kimi Raikkonen

The Finn’s laidback attitude bordered on apathy in F1, but could come in handy for Hamilton and Verstappen at the season-ending Abu Dhabi Grand Prix this weekend

One of the the major reasons that the Formula 1 world championship fight between Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen has captured the minds of millions of motor racing fans new and old all around the world is that their respective personalities are about as diametrically opposed as any pair of rival athletes could possibly be.

Of course the racing is thrilling, and the off-track politics between their team principals and the FIA riveting, but what really sells the story of this scintillating F1 season is the fact that it is so easy to find yourself naturally emotionally invested in the man you view as the protagonist, and jeer every move the perceived enemy makes.

Hamilton is the old-timer, the socially conscious face of the sport whose smooth handling of the media matches his patient driving style, but whose sustained success has left plenty perturbed and downright bored.

Verstappen is the young upstart, full of bravado, pushing boundaries, and the kind of relentless commitment to a strong public image that tallies with his aggression on circuit.

Any good story needs a hero and a villain, and the 2021 F1 season has essentially offered fans a Choose Your Own Adventure setup where you decide which character plays which role.

The pre-race press conference ahead of this weekend’s finale in Abu Dhabi saw reporters drill down on the prospect of crashes, penalties and even disqualifications the pair could face. But another man, whose race promises very little excitement or peril whatsoever, perhaps inadvertently gave the pair a lesson in how to approach the weekend.

“I’m looking forward to when it’s over,” said the Alfa Romeo driver Kimi Raikkonen, who will end a 20-year career once the chequered flag is waved at Yas Marina on Sunday evening.

The Finn has spent a listless three seasons bobbing around the back of the grid with the Swiss outfit since his departure from Ferrari at the end of 2018, scoring the odd point here and there but merely making up the numbers alongside team-mate Antonio Giovinazzi more often that not.

The 42-year-old has been immensely popular with fans throughout his career thanks to his deadpan comments over team radio, refusal to engage with media questions beyond a couple of words, and warmth-less personality.

‘The Iceman’ entered the sport in 2001 with Sauber, before becoming a race winner with McLaren and ultimately world champion with Ferrari in 2007. He took a sabbatical from single-seater racing in 2009 to compete in rallying for two years, before returning to F1 in 2012 with Lotus, subsequently re-joining Ferrari and then switching to Alfa.

That sabbatical, coming just two years after his title victory, might sound strange but in truth, Raikkonen and motor racing glory never really did make much sense together.

Hamilton and Verstappen may be very different, sure, but the key thing they have in common is that they are showmen, competitors with a burning desire to beat one another and enjoy the adulation of the public.

Raikkonen’s approach, on the other hand, has been defined by his laidback attitude which at times borders on disaffection and apathy towards racing. It shone, or rather seeped, through once again when he reluctantly engaged with the press in the conference format for the final time on Thursday.

“[F1 racing] has never been the most important thing for me in my life,” he said. “So it’s nice that it comes to the end, and I’m looking forward to a normal life. Yes I enjoy racing and this otherwise I wouldn’t have done it for so long but I appreciate my own time much more.”

Alfa Romeo's Kimi Raikkonen during practice in Saudi Arabia (Reuters)

The greatest athletes in any sport, Hamilton and Verstappen included, so often emphasise how intensely focused they are on their sporting goals, their ceaseless commitment to training, preparation and study, and of striving to best their opponents at every turn.

Raikkonen, though, made it to top the top with a permanently shrugged shoulder, driving the car and seeing what happened.

That strategy paid dividends in 2007 when he snatched the championship on the final day of the season, having started the last race at Interlagos in third-place between the McLaren pair of Hamilton and Fernando Alonso. The McLaren was the faster car for the majority of the season, but the Woking-based outfit was in disarray, full to the brim with internal conflict, hampered by poor management and stifled by a spying scandal that eventually saw them thrown out of the constructors’ championship altogether.

The title was Raikkonen’s because he calmly carried on with his own job while Alonso and Hamilton traded blows on and off track, notching enough strong results throughout the season and a win at the end to take advantage with precious little fuss or fanfare.

2021’s title rivals could benefit from a similar approach this weekend. Blocking the commotion from fans and media out, stopping the petty sniping on the radio, and driving as fast and fairly as possible while the opponent’s level of panic begins to increase is the best way to come out on top at the end of a season which has been defined by chaos rather than composure so far.

The most infamous comment Raikkonen ever made on team radio actually came at Abu Dhabi, back in 2012, when he demanded of his Lotus race engineer: “Leave me alone! I know what I’m doing!” The line is routinely quoted by Formula 1 fans online, the terse self-confidence and searing put-down defining Raikkonen’s contribution to the sport over the course of two decades.

If either Hamilton or Verstappen can mimic that mantra for one weekend, it might just help decide which of them gets the happy ending at the end of this season’s final chapter.