At the intersection of everything a racing driver should be—transparent, plain-spoken, eccentric, occasionally reckless, politically incorrect, wildly talented, and partial to both gorilla costumes and heterosexual male nudity—there is Kimi-Matias Räikkönen, driving for Ferrari. Obviously, this is a man we need around in F1. But Kimi will be 37-years old in October; plenty of people assumed he’d be let go, or simply retire, at this season’s end.
Not so. According to BBC Sport, Räikkönen has inked a new deal with Ferrari. That’ll keep him around at least for the 2017 campaign, where he’ll continue running alongside teammate and bromantic interest Sebastian Vettel, the lead driver and four-time F1 World Champion. It’ll be Kimi’s seventh year driving for the Scuderia. He delivered the team its last driver’s title back in 2007.
Räikkönen’s not that guy anymore, but is still more than capable of getting on his giddyup: At present, he’s fourth in points, behind only Vettel and the unstoppable Mercedes-AMG duo. But, competitive or not, it’s mostly just good to know he’ll be around next year.
Congrats on the new contract, you glorious Scandinavian weirdo. Keep on giving ‘em hell.