The disappearance of the Malaysian Grand Prix from the calendar after this weekend’s race is not causing Kimi Raikkonen any concern.
The Ferrari driver said he couldn’t think of much he expected to miss about the venue, which is not on the 2018 F1 calendar.
“To be honest I don’t know if we’re going to miss it,” said Raikkonen.
“It’s a nice circuit but the only thing you see is the airport, the hotel next to the airport and the circuit. You can choose from that what you’re going to miss, or not.”
“I think it’s been good racing over the years here,” Raikkonen added. “The layout obviously helps that.”
However Red Bull driver Max Verstappen said he was a fan of the Sepang International Circuit.
“I always enjoyed driving the track, that’s the biggest part we’ll miss,” he said. “The heat, to be honest, maybe not so much.”
Raikkonen’s team mate Vettel was more positive about the venue and suggested Formula One could make a return in future.
“I don’t think there’s one specific thing [we’ll miss], I think it’s a mixture of it. It’s the circuit but it’s also the conditions, the element of rain at any time during the day being possible. I think it’s provided very good racing.”
“I’m not involved in why we’re not racing here any more. But who knows, maybe we’re back after a year break or two, I don’t know.”
The Malaysian Grand Prix has been part of the Formula One calendar since 1999 but announced earlier this year it had terminated its F1 contract early.
BigJoe
28th September 2017, 8:31
‘it’s my favourite circuit’ ‘I’ll miss the wonderful people and fans’ ‘lovely country’ ‘I hope we come back soon’
Kimi Raikkonen 2017 (not)
;)
Tomcat173 (@tomcat173)
28th September 2017, 8:52
No “..but its the same for everybody” comment from Kimi? Disappointed!
Matteo (@m-bagattini)
28th September 2017, 12:55
You forgot the opening “…mwah…”
Jeffrey (@jeffreyj)
28th September 2017, 14:12
Bwoah… To be honest I did a mistake. Obviously that’s not ideal, but that’s the same for everybody ;-)
John
28th September 2017, 9:04
In his defense the track is 500 metres from the airport. It would be boring to fly all that way year after year just to drive a race car for a few hours. Boring
David BR (@david-br)
28th September 2017, 10:05
Hey Kimi, don’t knock the circuit! They do some nice ice creams.
AmineK
28th September 2017, 12:05
This is a classic example of how the media manipulates the news. If you listened to the press conference (and I did), you will hear Kimi say that the reason why he won’t miss Malaysia is because he didn’t see much of it to miss it: Plane, Hotel, circuit. He even said it’s a great track. Disappointing to read titles like this here.
SatchelCharge (@satchelcharge)
28th September 2017, 14:24
Well I’m going to miss the racing here. The layout is great in my opinion.
Phylyp (@phylyp)
28th September 2017, 15:26
I got to love his no-BS plain-speak. It had me laughing out loud here.
n0b0dy100
29th September 2017, 1:56
In 16 years he never ventured outside the hotel or circuit?! I would’ve thought Kula Lumpur would be somewhat interesting, but maybe I’m wrong.