Kimi Raikkonen of Alfa Romeo Racing will retire from Formula 1 at the end of 2021, confirmed the 41-year-old Finnish racer on Wednesday.

"This is it. This will be my last season in Formula 1. This is a decission [sic] I did during last winter. It was not an easy decision but after this season it is time for new things," posted Raikkonen on Instagram. "Even though the season is still on, I want to thank my family, all my teams, everyone involved in my racing career and especially all of you great fans that have been rooting for me all this time."

Raikkonen is already one of the oldest racers in today's F1. By contrast, the youngest driver, Yuki Tsunoda of Scuderia AlphaTauri, just turned 21.

Twenty years ago, Raikkonen made his F1 debut in Sauber (today's Alfa Romeo) but only stayed there for one season before joining McLaren and spending an unpleasant five years there. In 2007, Raikkonen signed with Ferrari, winning his first and only world championship in the same year.

Raikkonen departed F1 in 2009 for the rallying world. It took him a year to reach the decision to return to F1. His first stop was Lotus (2012-13), then Ferrari (2014-18) before joining Alfa Romeo.

Having competed in 341 races in his career, Raikkonen notched 18 pole positions and 21 wins. He's already at the terminal stage of his career and has only two points so far this season, ranking 17th of all racers.

Alfa Romeo will land Valtteri Bottas from Mercedes to replace Raikkonen. Mercedes will acquire George Russell from Williams to pair with Louis Hamilton.

"Formula 1 might come to an end for me but there is a lot more in life that I want to experience and enjoy. See you around after all of this! Sincerely Kimi," wrote "The Iceman."