In an interview in Zurich with Italian newspaper La Repubblica, the Finn was asked if he ever considered stopping driving.

“Well, in those days after it was over with Ferrari, I did. I thought about completely changing my life, perhaps to try motocross or something else. But it did not last long. Time to get back into a car again,” said Raikkonen.

Raikkonen took part in a private two-day test session in Valencia, Spain on January 23-24, driving a two-year-old Renault R30 to help ease his transition back into the sport. It marked the first time since the end of the 2009 he had driven a Formula 1 car.

After two years away from the sport, Raikkonen had this to say about the experience of climbing into a Formula 1 car again: “It was like coming home.”

However, he didn’t not find it physically difficult to adapt to driving a Formula 1 car again, saying: “Well, it hurt my neck. But not any more compared to a few years ago, when I started driving after the winter break. I thought it would have been worse.”

F1-Zone.net