Kimi Raikkonen has only hung up his helmet for a few weeks, at least as far as Formula 1 is concerned, but the world of motorsport will continue to be his home for some time to come. In the last few hours, the Finnish ex Sauber, McLaren, Ferrari, Lotus and Alfa Romeo has become team principal of his team, Ice One Racing, which races in the Motocross World Championship, the MXGP.
Raikkonen has been with the team for more than 10 years now and has been racing in MXGP since 2012. For 10 years he has defended the colors of Hosqvarna, but since this year he has forged a very important bond with Kawasaki, becoming the official team of the house from Minato.
“It’s no secret that, for me, one of my great passions in life for many years has been motocross,” Raikkonen said of his new role. “But this team is not what you would call a hobby; it is very serious, very focused and we aspire to be the best we can be.”
“I wouldn’t change a single thing” – Kimi Raikkonen about his career and retirement from F1
. “Now that I have retired from racing I will be able to devote more time to this project; not to everyday matters but more from a strategic point of view using my experience on how teams work and what creates success on the world stage.”
The Raikkonen team will replace the French MX Esca team and will be able to field an important rider of the caliber of Romain Febvre, vice world champion 2021, and Ben Watson.
The Ice 1 team was not born to race in motocross. 11 years ago Raikkonen founded it together with Benoit Nogier to race in the World Rally, the WRC. He did it at the wheel of a Citroen DS3 WRC and sailed by Kaj Lindstrom, scoring 19 points. A booty enough to bring him to close the season in tenth place in the Drivers’ World Championship.
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