Mika Hakkinen questions Kimi Raikkonen retirement talk

The 34-year-old Finn stated after the British Grand Prix that he is likely to walk away from the sport when his contract with Ferrari ends after the 2015 season.

Hakkinen has questioned his compatriot's decision to outline his plans so far in advance.

"Everyone does what he thinks is right." Hakkinen said in an interview for his sponsor Hermes. "But in my opinion that was not tactically very smart.

"If the mechanics and everyone else knows that a driver intends to just hang up his helmet in a year and a half, then they will probably pay more attention to the other driver, in this case Fernando Alonso."

Hakkinen also believes the 2007 world champion may not be in the right frame of mind to be competitive if he has one eye on quitting.

"When you start to think about quitting, it has a negative effect on your motivation," he said.

"You find you can no longer focus on many things that you need to focus on in Formula One."