Raikkonen happy to leave Ferrari after win

Kimi Raikkonen says he is "very happy" to join Sauber for 2019, even though he finally ended his winning drought on Sunday in Austin.

The Finn, who just turned 39, hadn't won for years until he triumphed at the US grand prix.

But he only has three races left for Ferrari before switching to Sauber, a midfield team.

Asked if he thinks Austin proves Ferrari should keep him, Raikkonen insisted: "I think people don't understand that I'm actually very happy where I'm going.

"I had my time with Ferrari, I won the championship with them. I won many races with them and for me, as a driver, I want different challenges, I want different things and I'm actually very happy to go there," he added.

Raikkonen has signed with Swiss-based Sauber for two years, meaning he will be 41 by the time the contract is up.

"It (Sauber) is roughly 40 minutes from my home," he said. "For sure my family will be happy, I'm happy to be with my family. I think it's probably the best thing. I wasn't really disappointed with the decision at any point."

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Leopold

Leopold Pleijsier founded F1-Fansite.com in 2001 and has followed Formula 1 since the early 1980s. He writes about daily F1 news, race weekends, drivers and the sport’s history.

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