Why Raikkonen is unmoved by becoming an F1 record-breaker

GP Racing is trying not to panic. We're minutes away from speaking to Kimi Raikkonen and the doors to the Monza 'Media Meeting Area' are seemingly locked. "It's fine," we think, clearly exasperated, "he's only notoriously difficult to interview and hates to be dragged away from the parts of Formula 1 he actually enjoys..."

A text to the FIA's media delegate, another to Will Ponissi (Alfa Romeo's press attache), a few moments of struggling to banish our unhelpful inner monologue, and we're saved! A circuit press officer arrives - and reveals the locked door isn't the right one, and the correct one just needs a good shove. Mercifully, she holds back her thoughts on our obvious inadequacy...

There's no time to focus on the embarrassment - we're in, and Kimi and Will are not far behind. We scramble to our seat at a large table with three chairs and notice a flash of red to our left. It turns out to be Sebastian Vettel speaking to another journalist.

Phone out, notifications off, questions ready to scroll. The doors open again, painfully easily, and in they come. Kimi is in his typical hat and sunglasses combo, paired with the mandatory mask that will muffle his words further. The glasses are quickly removed - he's sizing us up, ready as ever to swiftly dismiss misjudged questions, much as he has throughout his almost 20 years racing in F1.

A good thing we've decided to go high risk for our opening gambit:

"In a few races, you're going to become F1's most experienced driver - do you care?"

He doesn't miss a beat: "No, not really."

Just as we'd expected, but it's too early to know if the gamble has paid off. GP Racing's interview preparations involved overloading on topics just in case Kimi isn't in a chatty mood, but we're armed with (hopefully) engaging talking points - so nothing about Alfa's troublesome C39, just in case... Plus, this being modern journalism, we've been commissioned to ask questions for GP Racing's sister publications as well, which means there's lots of potential ground to cover.

By the time you're reading this, Raikkonen is on 325 actual F1 starts. His record-beating moment was celebrated (not by him) at the Eifel GP, but three are 'missing'. These stem from his transmission-induced retirement in the subsequently nullified opening laps of the 2001 Belgian GP, (after Luciano Burti's horrific crash), the farce of Indianapolis 2005, and a Ferrari turbo failure on the grid at Sepang in 2017.

Much to our relief, Kimi opens up. When it comes to picking his three best races for an Autosport feature he goes further - offering up his Australia 2013 triumph for Lotus alongside his most famous wins at McLaren and Ferrari: Suzuka 2005 and Spa 2009. And his world title clincher in Brazil, of course.

PLUS: Kimi Raikkonen's top 10 F1 races ranked

"I have my own life and F1's never been part of it really. I enjoy it more, because if it would be 24 hours, seven days a week, then I wouldn't be here today" Kimi Raikkonen

This is one of the interesting things about Kimi Raikkonen - the 2007 world champion, the 21-time grand prix winner, the no-nonsense, hard-partying cult figure, F1's most experienced driver. Despite all of that, he genuinely doesn't care about the achievements, or the missed opportunities - the sort of stuff that would enthral and vex other sportspeople, let alone mere mortals on the outside.

On F1's return to the Nurburgring, Kimi will break Rubens Barrichello's record for most F1 race starts. The extended nature of the modern calendar, 2020 and the pandemic aside, means soon there will be plenty of F1 drivers with start totals to rival cricket scores. But, right now, it's just Kimi, Barrichello, Michael Schumacher, Fernando Alonso and Jenson Button that stand with Brian Lara-esque 300-plus totals.

Kimi puts his own F1 longevity, in part, down to his famously nonchalant attitude.

"F1 has never been the most important thing in my life," he says. GP Racing freezes. Kimi is rubbing his neck. In 'The Unknown Kimi Raikkonen' by Kari Hotakainen, we learn that neck rubbing with his right hand means "the boy's pissed off" - and we've been watching out for it. But it's the left hand, panic subsides again...

"It's for sure taking most of the time in my life," Kimi continues. "But when I go out of here and I go home, I never... I have my own life and F1's never been part of it really. I enjoy it more, because if it would be 24 hours, seven days a week, then I wouldn't be here today. It's always been two separate things. And people can say: 'Oh, it's the wrong approach and this [and that]'. Well, for me it works and I don't care what people say."

The criticism Raikkonen mentions does make some sense. A driver totally committed to improving their F1 prospects, allied with proven natural ability, would logically triumph over a driver that plugs in and plays - even if they are superbly fast. And yet, Mercedes' decision to loosen the reins around Lewis Hamilton has also paid off handsomely.

This is the Raikkonen enigma - it's the detachedness that makes him focused. He's famously direct, as his 2020 British GP radio swearing attests, but there's no fuss; he just does. It's what makes him as good as he is - but perhaps that naturally creates a limit also.

And here we come to another fascinating aspect of the Raikkonen riddle - his career, to the outsider, is frustrating. His title and win totals pale in comparison to his friend Vettel's, and Hamilton's too. And Kimi's second stint at Ferrari is being made to look ever more underwhelming with every starring Charles Leclerc drive - even though Raikkonen was provided with disappointing machinery by the Scuderia in 2014 and 2016.

But, even at his Ferrari exit, he was still wanted in F1. Alfa Romeo, then Sauber, wanted to hire Kimi because it viewed - and still does - his experience and development skills as an asset.

"Nearly 323 races and 20 years is a lot of driving and a lot of F1 - why do you love it so much?" GP Racing asks. And Raikkonen's answer shows his worth to Alfa.

"The racing, obviously, but over the years also the challenge to try to improve, to try to fix issues and make the car better," says Kimi - who in 2019 sketched his own designs for changes to his car's brake pedals, highlighting his mechanical skills acquired in part from "destroying my mum's bike and [taking] parts from it" as a youngster.

One of the most interesting aspects of our discussion concerns Raikkonen's reputation for forging lasting bonds. Whether that's his long-term manager Steve Robertson; his trainer since 2002, Mark Arnall - "it's more friendship than anything else [now]" - or engineers such as Mark Slade, who Raikkonen persuaded to rejoin the then Lotus squad from Mercedes ahead of his 2012 F1 comeback. Together they worked with performance engineer Julien Simon-Chautemps - now Kimi's Alfa race engineer.

"You know, 20 or 19 years, whatever it is, it doesn't feel [like that long]. It goes quickly - when the season starts and it finishes. But it's a long time when you start [to think about it], it's half of my life. In one way, it's a bit sad but that's how it goes" Kimi Raikkonen

"I don't feel that I needed to work - I don't think you need to," Raikkonen replies when asked if it's hard work that has maintained these relationships. "Either it's going to work itself or, if you have to force it to really work out, something is wrong with it. When I was younger, it was more important on race engineers and now... as long as the working relationship is good and we're kind of on the same page, I also know enough myself."

As you may have guessed, this was this particular writer's first meeting with Raikkonen - in restricted circumstances thanks to F1's necessary COVID-secure rules. At one point, the flash of red starts moving - Vettel is exiting the room with a quizzical look at our table. GP Racing is not sure if he's more puzzled by our ridiculous haircut, or his former team-mate doing a 1-1 interview...

In spite of Kimi's reputation, this isn't a chore. Many of our questions are left unasked simply because Kimi has spent so long responding to what we've already put to him. In fact, we unexpectedly overrun. He doesn't go into forensic detail, or give the headline-grabbing soundbites others might, but his answers feel authentic. There are few pauses, he just tells it like it is. Classic Raikkonen.

He has nothing planned to celebrate taking Barrichello's record - although one suspects Alfa may do so on his behalf - and so we head towards our conclusion, with Kimi... laughing.

"You know, 20 or 19 years, whatever it is, it doesn't feel [like that long]," he ponders. "It goes quickly - when the season starts and it finishes. But it's a long time when you start [to think about it], it's half of my life. In one way, it's a bit sad but that's how it goes!"

We ask: "When the end does come..."

"It's more closer than the beginning!"

"... will you come back and visit F1?"

He doesn't know. Probably. It depends. "Obviously I will never do any commentating" - but he's open to other work the F1 world may throw his way. And our interview ends on a tantalising note...

"My kids, they are both interested in the sport and so if they want to come one day, we should come," he says. "But I wouldn't say that I'm desperate to come because I do try to enjoy other things [with] them than that."

We've made it to the end. We've heard Kimi's memories, and got him laughing and there's just one more thing to try. Can Will take a photo to capture the reality of the COVID media restrictions? He can, but will Kimi mind? He doesn't - so we wish him good luck for the race weekend to create the illusion of discussion; two pairs of eyebrows raised at the levels of absurdity.

"Thanks, Kimi - I don't know yet if I'll be at the Nurburgring when you break the record..."

"Oh, so it's the Nurburgring? Well, if we start all the races..."