While the post-race interviews gave the appearance that Kimi Raikkonen could barely contain his indifference, despite claiming a popular win, his occasional grin told a different story... that and his cry over the radio shortly after taking the flag.

"F****** finally!" he said.

The win, his first since Australia 2013 and his first for Ferrari since Spa 2009, removed a particular monkey from the Finn's back, while the pit stop dummy he sold Lewis Hamilton earlier in the race, combined with his robust defence when subsequently attacked by the world champion, demonstrated that the Finn really does know what he's doing.

With three races remaining, asked if he might win again for the Scuderia, his win coming eleven years to the day since he secured his world championship title, and the Italian team's most recent, he replied: "If it comes, it comes... if it doesn't, it really doesn't change my life one bit.

"I'm happy we are here and that we win," he added, "but I think the biggest difference is the way people look at you. If you look at people in a different way if they win or not, it doesn't make a lot of difference in my mind. But obviously I'm happy, just proving some people wrong is enough fun for me."

Pushed a little harder on when he might win again, the Finn moving to Sauber at the end of the year, the team with which he made his controversial F1 debut in 2001, he joked: "It might be next weekend already.

"I don't know," he added. "I'm happy with how it went. I'm happy for the team. Obviously we had a pretty rough two races and I'm proving people certain things. I might be getting older but it's not too bad still.

"Maybe I'm OK to be here a few years more. I enjoy it, so we are here to try to win. I always try to do it, but obviously it's not easy, otherwise anybody could do it. So, I think this weekend we have been pretty solid in many ways. I just had a good feeling with the car. We'll see what happens in the next race, but so far it's been OK. I don't complain a lot. We'll have for sure some fun tonight and we go next week to the next one."

On a day teammate Sebastian Vettel made another high-profile, costly mistake, some are coming around to Pitpass' suggestion that Ferrari might have been better served retaining the Finn as mentor to Charles Leclerc. Certainly, Raikkonen, drove a great race with no incidents.

"For sure my purpose is not to be any more aggressive against him than anybody else," he said of the battle with Lewis Hamilton that effectively decided the race. "I don't believe in doing crazy things. I want to do my race and do the best that I can do. If that impacts the championship then that's how it is but I will not do any crazy stuff to be a part of it.

"My job is purely to try to do win, I'm here for that and I will play as fair as is possible and that's how it's going to be and how it's always going to be. We know what is fair and what is not and I got a bit close once because I lost a bit of grip but there was nothing crazy going on."

Check out our Sunday gallery from COTA, here.

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READERS COMMENTS

1. Posted by F1 Yank, 22/10/2018 23:16

"Congratulations to Raikkonen! He drove a great race, managed the lead, and brought it home. Although Ham was playing it conservative it was still good to see the strategy play out. I don't think the fake into the pits slowed anything up but it was good to see the move anyway. The interesting thing was the Merc's soft tires in such bad shape towards the end of their stint. Also I liked the fact that Vettel got out of the way of everything especially after his bonehead move on the first lap. A very good race to watch and we need more of them!"

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2. Posted by meatball, 22/10/2018 16:23

"If and when Kimi should ever retire, F1 will be missing a huge character. Last of great era."

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3. Posted by nonickname, 22/10/2018 13:20

"my dream team is as usual Alonso and Raikkonen,70 years experience in one team"

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F****** finally!

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