Kimi Raikkonen can seal his best finish in the Formula One drivers' championship on Sunday at the Etihad Airways Abu Dhabi Grand Prix - but the Finn is not convinced this might be a good thing.
The 2007 world champion will clinch third place in the standings, behind world champion Lewis Hamilton and Ferrari teammate Sebastian Vettel, if he is fourth or better in the 55-lap race at Yas Marina Circuit.
But Raikkonen admitted the prospect of having to travel to an awards ceremony to pick up a trophy for third place, having completed the joint longest season in F1 history of 21 races, is not one he is overly enthusiastic about.
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"If I end up third, I think we need to go wherever the prize giving is so it’s a negative thing in the end, you know, more travelling but we’ll see," he said in Thursday's news conference.
It is Raikkonen's final race with Ferrari this weekend. He is leaving the team after eight years, spread over two stints of 2007-09 and 2014-18, and he said there was no bad blood over the decision to replace him with Charles Leclerc.
The 39 year old, who is swapping seats with Leclerc and will drive for Sauber, the team he began his F1 career with back in 2001, said: "I’m not sad because I don’t see why we need to be sad.
"We will stay as friends. We’re going to see a lot of us anyhow in the paddock so not an awful lot changes. We’ll both go for new things and I think it’s exciting."
