F1 | Vasseur said the Sauber Group would be happy to involve Raikkonen in other projects
Frederic Vasseur offered Kimi Raikkonen his help to find another seat in another competition, thanks to the link that Sauber has with the Stellantis group.
Despite the farewell to Formula 1 after more than 20 years, a World Championship conquered in 2007 with Ferrari, and, among many, a record of 349 Grand Prix starts, Kimi Raikkonen doesn’t seem to feel nostalgia for the Circus.
"A lot of things are such fake things in here. It's good to be out. Mentally, it's very good to be out of all that bullsh*t for a while." The Finn had announced to Autosport.
But in spite of the negative aspects he referred to, as in everything, Kimi Raikkonen also found some good in Formula 1, including friendships, like that with his now former Team Principal Frederic Vasseur, who said that he had offered Kimi his help to find another seat after his retirement.
"I told him that I could help if he wants to do something else, that even the [Sauber] Group would be very happy to be supportive and to find other projects,” Vasseur told GPFans.
Thanks to the links with the Stellantis Group, which also includes Sauber, the title sponsor of Alfa Romeo in F1, Vasseur could have helped the Finn find a new seat in another competition.
"They are now almost everywhere - Le Mans and in Formula E," he said.
But the Frenchman said his former driver has decided to stay away from the track for a while.
"He was clear in his mind by saying, 'No, I would prefer to close this short-term, and then perhaps in six months, eight months, I would like to do something else'.
"I think it's quite tough when you do so many seasons in a row in F1 to stop and say, 'Okay, next year I will do WTCC' or I don't know what."
Raikkonen had already announced that his retirement was not temporary and so it is possible that he may never set foot in an F1 paddock again.
Vasseur does not know if things will go this way for real, but he believes that the "Iceman" of F1 has the right to get some rest and stay away from the pressure for a bit.
"I don't know. He deserves to have a rest," he replied when asked about the matter.
"Honestly, I think he had a very good approach. He was always very open with us. This for me, it's the most important because we had an open discussion about this."
