A Decade Later, F1 World Remembers Kimi Raikkonen’s Iconic “Iceman” Moment

Kimi Raikkonen may have retired from Formula 1, but his deadpan radio messages still live in fans’ minds. He may have been a man of few words during the interviews, but he let his skills on the track do all the talking. Today marks the 10th year of his famous win in Abu Dhabi where he uttered on team radio, “Just leave me alone, I know what to do!”

The 2012 Abu Dhabi GP was a chaotic affair, to say the least. From the race leader retiring to multiple incidents and the safety car, the race offered all the excitement fans could ask for. The chaos started even before the lights were out. Pedro de la Rosa had one of his tire blankets tangled and could not take the formation lap.

The 2012 Abu Dhabi GP and Kimi Raikkonen’s famous radio message

Kimi had a great start to the race as he overtook Mark Webber to take P2 before the first corner. Ayrton Senna and Nico Hulkenberg had a collision in the very first corner that saw the German bow out of the race. There were multiple collisions, but the one that stood out was Narain Karthikeyan and Nico Rosberg. Rosberg flew off after the collision and crashed into the barriers.

But the Raikkonen radio message came in lap 23 when he was the race leader after Lewis Hamilton retired owing to engine failure. He was receiving some instructions from his race engineer when he said the famous words. Kimi then went on to win the race despite some serious pressure from Fernando Alonso.

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Even after 10 years, Kimi’s words are relevant in F1 pop culture. Here are some of the fans’ reactions over the years from Twitter.

After watching Ferrari struggle lately, one fan reminded us The Iceman was the last Ferrari driver to win the championship.

Kimi didn’t like the media’s attention when he was active in F1. Therefore, when he retired, it was expected that he will stay away from the media’s attention. And that is exactly what he did. Until recently, fans had no idea what he was up to.

What is Kimi Raikkonen up to after retirement?

Kimi’s wife Minttu recently appeared for an interview with Seura. She revealed, “We do quite a lot of things together, as we have always done before when he has been at home. For example, we often go to sports together. It hasn’t changed.” [Translated using Google]

The Ferrari champion is also mentoring his son Robin, who has recently developed an interest in karting. Minttu said, “At the moment, Robin really likes it, but he can still change his mind. He also drives a microcar and a moped. Fortunately, Robin listens very carefully to how Kimi advises him and I am confident, although of course there are also many other drivers.”

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My favorite Raikkonen radio messages are the back-and-forth he had with his race engineer when the team forgot to connect his drink. Which one is yours?