By Josh Nevett
Release date: September 14, 2021
Veteran Formula 1 driver Kimi Raikkonen has recovered from COVID-19 and will return to the Russian Grand Prix on September 26th.
Raikkonen posted a short message to his 2.5 million followers on Instagram in which he confirmed the news.
“I’m doing well. See you at the next GP ”, it says in Raikkonen’s post.
The 41-year-old Finn was absent from the Grand Prix in both Belgium and the Netherlands after returning the positive test and did not report any symptoms of the virus during his entire isolation period.
His experienced colleague Robert Kubica replaced him at the Alfa Romeo Racing seat and finished in 15th and 14th place.
Raikkonen has so far this season collected two points with two tenth places and together with the Italian Antonio Giovinazzi finished ninth in the team standings.
The 2007 F1 champion has already confirmed that he will retire as the most experienced driver in F1 history at the end of 2021.
Räikkönen, who made his debut at Sauber in 2001, has started 344 races and is the last driver to win the F1 World Championship for Ferrari, which he did in 2007.
Raikkonen became the first F1 driver to test positive for COVID-19 this year after Lewis Hamilton, Sergio Perez and Lance Stroll missed 2020 races.
Alfa Romeo has signed current Mercedes driver Valtteri Bottas to replace Raikkonen, while his second driver remains unconfirmed for the 2022 season.
Among the names that will challenge Giovinazzi for second place are two Formula 2 championship leaders, the Aussie Oscar Piastri and Guanyu Zhou.
Alfa Romeo team principal Fred Vasseur has confirmed that there are several contenders for the position.
“There are five or six names on the list,” said Vasseur.
“We have always said that we also want to watch the youth series. You are racing two races in a row with Monza and Sochi and we will probably talk to my shareholders about this by the end of September.
“Zhou does a good job in F2 – he’s definitely on the list. He’s a front runner in F2, he’s won a couple of races and I think every single team is in F1 [watching] him.
“[With Nyck de Vries], that is certainly not the most convenient situation. I think Nyck did a good job in the junior series. He won the F2 with ART, he won Formula E this season and did a good job when he entered the [Mercedes] F1 car in Abu Dhabi.
“I know him very well because he has driven for ART for a few years in the past, but I think the situation at Mercedes is not easy.”
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