'Leave me alone, I know what I'm doing': the Kimi Räikkönen radio message from a past F1 era

With a terse eight words a decade ago, Kimi Räikkönen coined his F1 epitaph with the series' most-celebrated radio message. More than a meme, writes Damien Smith, it's a throwback to the classic racing spirit

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F1 fans hold up a Kimi Raikkonen leave me alone I know what Im doing flag

Fans at the 2012 US GP, one race after Abu Dhabi, were already celebrating Räikkönen's blunt message

Alamy

“Just leave me alone, I know what I’m doing!” Ten years ago today, on November 4 2012, Kimi Räikkönen barked what became his signature catchphrase down the radio to his hapless engineer Simon Rennie – and Formula 1’s most celebrated meme was born (admittedly before memes were really a thing).

A few days later, 500 black T-shirts emblazoned with the slogan arrived at the Enstone factory of what was then known as the Lotus F1 team – with kind regards from the man himself. Räikkönen never did take himself, F1 or it seems life in general, too seriously.

Plenty of (rose)water has flowed since that Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, when Räikkönen rolled back the years with a performance that was reminiscent more of his greatest days at McLaren than anything he produced at Ferrari. Strange how in both spells in Maranello red the Finn only rarely caught the light in quite the same way as he had during his time under Ron Dennis and Martin Whitmarsh, even though it was in a Ferrari that he became a world champion (against the run of expectation) in 2007.

Aside from his tetchy – and accurate – radio message (he really did know what he was doing), the other big takeaway from that night in Abu Dhabi was Kimi’s complete lack of emotion on the podium. That’s the Iceman. Perhaps this time it was disgust at being presented with non-alcoholic rosewater rather than something a little stronger in the austere Middle East. Kimi hadn’t won a grand prix for three years – Spa 2009 – and had spent two years getting mud under his flaps in rallying. Now he was back and winning again, and he couldn’t even get a drink…

The two-year break seemed to be the shot Räikkönen needed in 2012. He’d run out of steam at Ferrari, to the point where Luca di Montezemolo paid him not to race in 2010 so the team could usher in Fernando Alonso (nice work? Not really). Yet his currency was still high when, after a couple of years of crashing Citroëns (well, mostly…) Räikkönen landed himself an F1 return with a dormant team in desperate need of an inspirational talisman. Kimi was no rabble-rousing Henry V, of course – can you imagine? – but his driving when he landed back in F1 would do the talking. He and the team were just what each other needed.

Kimi Raikkonen stands on the podium after winning the 2012 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix

'What, no champagne?' Räikkönen on the podium in Abu Dhabi

Grand Prix Photo

Fernando Alonso chases down Kimi Raikkonen in the 2012 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix

Alonso piles on the pressure

Chequered flag waves as Kimi Raikkonen crosses the line to win the 2012 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix

Victory for the Iceman

In Abu Dhabi, Räikkönen stuck the Lotus on the second row for what was then the third from last race in a super-competitive season. Alonso – one of six world champions on the grid – had led the points all the way up to Suzuka, until a four-race consecutive run of victories put Sebastian Vettel on course for his title hat-trick. But at Yas Marina, Vettel was on the back foot after qualifying when Red Bull failed to submit the requisite fuel sample to the FIA. That meant Seb was dumped to the back of the grid, but the team chose to start him from the pitlane to allow for a free run at race strategy. Great call.

Up on pole position, Hamilton’s mojo was rising back to where it once belonged, the former boy racer buoyed by the revelation he’d be sensationally quitting McLaren in favour of Mercedes promise in 2013. As he shot away under the lights, Räikkönen scorched into second – and when Hamilton dropped out with a fuel pump failure after 20 laps, the black and gold Lotus picked up the lead. He held it all the way too, despite increasing pressure from a title-chasing Alonso, who kept him fully occupied. Hence the message to poor old Simon Rennie. There was a second too, when Rennie dared warn him about keeping his tyres alive under the safety car. “Yes, yes, yes, yes,” Kimi snapped back. “I’m doing it all the time. You don’t have to remind me every second.” Just brilliant.

From the archive

Meanwhile, canny Vettel climbed (with the aid of the two timely safety cars interludes) to finish third. “I’ll see you on the podium,” had been his last words to Christian Horner before taking the start. Old-school Seb chutzpah – shades of Max Verstappen today – and old-school Kimi, too. It was one of those days (or rather nights) where the Räikkönen Dennis and Whitmarsh knew bothered to turn up to get the job done.

Räikkönen’s response to engineer coaching struck a chord then and still does today. Always something of a throwback, Kimi’s instinct to be left alone to just get on with it was refreshing. It sprang to mind again a couple of years ago when I asked Damon Hill if he’d have preferred racing in F1 today rather than in his own era. “Would I want to drive today? I wouldn’t want to be told all the time what to do by engineers, about how to drive,” Damon shot back. “Something grates with me about that one. I want to know information, but to be told ‘stay here, don’t go too fast’, that doesn’t feel right. Isn’t that what a racing driver is, someone who chooses a direction and takes his own path? The guys before my era were people who usually went against their parents’ wishes to race. They didn’t take instructions from anyone.” Kimi certainly didn’t. We always knew he’d had thrived in the 1970s.

Today, nearly a year on from his F1 retirement, Räikkönen is still missed by many for encapsulating that racing spirit Hill describes so perfectly – even if his best years were long behind him for much of his latter career. Now we get set to bid farewell to another star of the class of 2012, his old team-mate (and mate) Vettel, whose career also dwindled into strange territory over the course of the past decade. Hamilton, in contrast, remains at his peak – amazing to think he was just a one-time world champ back in 2012 – while that old warrior Alonso still tilts at windmills at 41, even if another win, never mind a third world title, would be a bonus this late into autumn. Racing drivers’ careers were never meant to last this long, were they?

Kimi Raikkonen and Sebastian Vettel smile on the podium after the 2012 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix

Podium pals: Räikkönen cracks a smile with future team-mate Vettel

Dimitar Dilkoff/AFP via Getty Images

As for the Enstone team, its guise at Lotus should be considered an odd glitch in the matrix. Officially, Räikkönen’s victory was the great British car maker’s 80th in F1 and its first since Ayrton Senna’s in Detroit 1987. But c’mon. It doesn’t really count, does it? The Enstone Lotus era was nothing more than a demeaning badging deal that’s now best forgotten.

But let’s not forget Räikkönen’s hard-earned rosewater, or for that matter Simon Rennie, the guy on the end of that radio call. By simply doing what he was paid to do, he could have no idea he’d trigger a run on T-shirts that would verge on becoming its own industry.

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