Kimi Raikkonen bowed out of Formula One in Abu Dhabi on Sunday amid the wreckage of his Alfa Romeo race machine.
There was to be no glorious ending to his amazing 20-year career that has seen him rack up 21 wins, 18 pole starts and a record 349 Grands Prix.
Raikkonen, 42, who was the oldest driver on the grid, hammered the barriers and was the first retirement, after suffering brake problems.
It was an early end to a season in which he scored only 10 points and four top 10 finishes in 21 Grands Prix.
The Iceman’s best result this year was eighth, although he often demonstrated the speed of old, his machinery was lacking.
The entire year’s tally was as much as there 2007 champion is used to notching up in a single weekend.
And he ended the championship still very much loved by the media and the fans for his monosyllabic answers and famous one-liners like “Leave me alone, I know what I’m doing”, but just five places from the bottom of the championship.
“I'm looking forward to get the season done and having a normal life after,” Raikkonen said.
"For sure, my wife will be more emotional about it than me. I doubt the kids will really care either way. They will find other things to do that are more interesting.”
He has won only two Grands Prix in the last nine years since his victory here in 2012.
It is also the end of the race for his teammate Antonio Giovinazzi who is not being kept on by the team where he has spent his entire 62-race career.
But the season lasted longer for them than it did for Haas’s Russian racer Nikita Mazepin, who was ruled out on the morning of the action yesterday after testing positive with Covid-19 and being barred from racing.
