Apr.21 (GMM) Kimi Raikkonen says he will not be joining the growing trend of actual professional drivers entering the world of virtual online simulator racing.
Even his friend and former teammate Sebastian Vettel has bitten the bullet by buying a home simulator setup in the past days, but Raikkonen says he is “indifferent”.
“I will wait until we return to real racing,” the 40-year-old Finn told Corriere della Sera.
Raikkonen admitted in the past that he is no fan even of the state of the art simulators at F1 factories.
“It’s not that I don’t like it, but flying to Italy just to get behind the wheel of a simulator – I came into this sport for another reason,” he said.
“And anyway, the (team) simulators are extremely complex – they are completely different to the simulators at home.”
Raikkonen said the unexpected break in the 2020 calendar does not change his attitude about continuing to race in Formula 1.
“No. Let’s start and end this season first and see,” he said.
“At some point, I will assess the situation and draw conclusions. So far, nothing has changed for me.”
When asked how long he will stay in F1, Raikkonen answered: “While I have fun and I am motivated. And I am more motivated now than ever.”