Kimi Raikkonen - 2007 Kimi Raikkonen Share Fast-tracked into the sport with the shortest CV on four wheels, the unknown newcomer who came from nowhere and said next to nothing immediately proved he knew exactly what he was doing: driving a Formula One car as fast as it could possibly go. The car couldn't always keep up with his talent and it took seven seasons for Kimi 'Iceman' Raikkonen to become World Champion. Notoriously inanimate and uncommunicative, the silent speedster's frozen expression in fact masked the hidden depths in one of the most original - and popular - characters in the sport's history... 1 / 5 Kimi Raikkonen (FIN), British Formula Renault Championship, 2000. World © Bearne/Sutton © No reproduction without permission. Kimi Raikkonen (FIN) World Karting Championship, Margutti, Parma, Italy March 1998. World © Walker/Sutton © No reproduction without permission. Karting sensation Kimi Raikkonen (FIN) takes part in his first racing car test ahead of his first season in single seater racing cars.

Formula Ford Test Session, Donington Park, England, 16 December 1998. World © Sutton © No reproduction without permission. Kimi Raikkonen (FIN) Manor Motorsport shows off the trophies he received for winning all the races in the series. Formula Renault Winter Series, Donington Park, England, 21 November 1999. World © McNeil/Sutton © No reproduction without permission. Kimi Raikkonen (FIN) - 1st place British Formula Renault Championship, Croft, England. 25 June 2000. World © Batchelor/Sutton © No reproduction without permission. Info Close Kimi Matias Raikkonen spent his childhood in a house built by his great grandfather in Espoo, a suburb of the Finnish capital, Helsinki. To provide for Kimi, born on 17 October, 1979, and his older brother Rami, their hard-working parents Matti and Paula toiled, respectively, as a road builder and an office clerk. Money was scarce but the Raikkonens were a happy family and their humble homestead surrounded by open countryside was an ideal environment for the two rambunctious youngsters to flex their racing muscles.

At first (when Kimi was just three years old) the brothers tore around on miniature motocross bikes fitted with training wheels. A move to karts paved the way for Kimi (who began competitive karting at 10) and Rami (who eventually became a successful rally driver) to make rapid progress in motorsport, though it came at a cost. Matti had to work nights as a taxi driver and nightclub bouncer and funds diverted to karting meant plans to replace the outside lavatory with a proper bathroom in the family home had to be postponed. Kimi, a reluctant student who used his schoolbag as a sled to slide down snow-covered hills, enjoyed winter sports, especially ice hockey, though he eventually gave it up because he hated getting up for early-morning practice. At 16 he left school and enrolled in a course for mechanics, believing this skill might be the only way to stay involved in motorsport. Very soon his mechanical expertise, and the need for family funding, became superfluous, as Kimi's natural talent for driving fast led to sponsored rides.

Info Close Following a rapid series of successes in Finnish, Nordic and European karting, he jumped into a racing car and promptly won two British-based Formula Renault championships. In the fall of 2000, despite having just 23 car races to his name, he was given a test by the Sauber Formula One team. Impressed by his immediate pace and assured approach, Sauber shrewdly signed the 21-year old to drive for them in 2001. His having short-circuited the conventional route to the top provoked fierce debate over his right, let alone his readiness, to race at the pinnacle of motorsport. Raikkonen rapidly silenced his critics (he finished sixth in his Grand Prix debut) and attracted the attention of McLaren, who saw him as a likely successor to the retiring two-time champion, Mika Hakkinen. One Finn after another proved to be a good thing for McLaren, for whom Kimi the 'Iceman' never gave less than his maximum, always driving to a personal limit that at least equalled, sometimes exceeded, the best of his peers. Experts endlessly praised his seamless, straightforward, mostly mistake-free style.

"I never really think about what I'm doing," Kimi said in a rare outburst of self-analysis. "I just do it." His five seasons at McLaren coincided with a period of unevenly performing, often unreliable, cars. Yet he finished second in the championship twice (2003 and 2005), won nine races and finished in the top three on 36 occasions. His podium appearances and subsequent TV interviews exposed him to public scrutiny under which he tended to squirm and fidget, tugging his ears, rubbing his nose and trying to hide beneath his baseball cap. He seldom smiled, spoke sparingly in a mumbled monotone, then all but ran for the nearest exit. Yet in his private life the poker-faced enigma's icy reserve was prone to spectacular bouts of thawing out. 'Drunken Race Ace Kimi Bounced Out Of Lapdance Club For Fiddling With His Gearstick!' shrieked a headline in a British tabloid newspaper. Spanish media gleefully reported that the vodka-loving Flying Finn was found lying fast asleep outside a bar embracing an inflatable rubber dolphin.

In Monaco he was filmed cavorting on a yacht, swaying unsteadily on the upper deck then falling onto on a lower level where he landed on his head. Info Close "What I do in my private life doesn't make me drive any slower," the free-spirited speedster insisted. In truth, the Iceman's private life was running smoothly and he was well-settled on the domestic front, having in 2004 married Jenni Dahlmann, a gorgeous Finnish fashion model and former Miss Scandanavia. At their sumptuous Swiss home there was plenty of room for their two dogs and Kimi's car collection. Asked to name his most prized possessions, he replied: "My wife and my Ferrari Enzo." In 2007 he began driving a Ferrari Formula One car for a living, having been hired (for a reported $41 million a year) to fill the considerable void left by the departing seven-time World Champion Michael Schumacher, whose unrivalled work ethic and team leadership qualities were not part of a Raikkonen repertoire that seemed more akin to another past champion.

A week before his debut with the team, Ferrari's new recruit was in Finland, winning a dangerous snowmobile race he had entered under the alias of 'James Hunt.' When the same 'James Hunt' later competed in a powerboat race dressed in a gorilla suit Kimi said he invoked the name of his hero as a riposte to the media sensationalisation of his private life. He got off to a fast start with Ferrari, winning the season-opener from pole position, though by the penultimate race he was third in the driver standings, behind the McLaren team mates Fernando Alonso, seeking a third successive title, and Lewis Hamilton, the record-breaking rookie. Though Raikkonen had won more races, five to their four apiece, he remained the longshot among the trio of contenders at the final race, in Brazil. The phlegmatic Finn delivered sensationally, winning the race and the 2007 World Drivers' Championship by a single point. On the podium the new champion swigged and sprayed his champagne and, grinning at last, the Iceman broke his silence with a virtual torrent of words. "I'm very happy. I came from pretty much nothing but my family, friends and sponsors helped me get here.

People will probably look at me differently and make up more stories about me. But I'm going to lead my life as I want and that's it." Info Close And so he did. In two more seasons with Ferrari his results tapered off, as did his interest in continuing. At the end of 2009 Ferrari offered him a lucrative way out by buying up the final year of his contract (to make way for Fernando Alonso). Kimi spent the next two seasons amusing himself in the World Rally Championship, an experience he found no substitute for competing at the pinnacle of motorsport, where he returned in 2012 to drive for the Lotus F1 Team. His comeback was a resounding success. He finished a remarkable third overall in the championship and led Lotus to a highly respectable fourth in the team standings. He was the only driver to complete all 20 races, one of which he won memorably. En route to his popular victory in Abu Dhabi the entertainingly enigmatic Iceman became irritated by ever more anxious radio instructions from his increasingly frantic race engineer. Kimi silenced the voice in his ear with a phrase that immediately entered Formula One folklore: "Leave me alone.

I know what I'm doing." Kimi continued to know what he was doing, winning the first race of 2013, coming second in six others and collecting enough points to finish fifth among the drivers, despite missing the last two races to have an operation to repair a back injury. Then, in keeping with his tradition of independence, he announced he was leaving Lotus and would in 2014 return to the team where he won the 2007 championship: Ferrari. His return to the Scuderia was a disaster, prompting speculation that the Iceman had finally melted. Humiliated by his team mate Fernando Alonso, who scored three times as many points, Raikkonen blamed his worst ever results on an inability to change his car’s handling to suit his driving style. The phlegmatic Finn handled the setback philosophically - “It doesn’t matter. It is what it is.” – an opinion that was shared by Ferrari, who retained his services for 2015. ‘Lacklustre’ and ‘underwhelming’ were some of the terms critics used to describe a 2015 season that seldom went smoothly for Kimi Raikkonen.

There were more incidents and accidents than usual and he finished a distant fourth in the championship, well behind his new team mate Sebastian Vettel. Yet he remained arguably the most popular driver and Ferrari renewed his contract. “It’s not been an ideal year,” Kimi admitted. “That’s how it goes.” A resurgent Raikkonen - rejuvenated by a contract extension for 2017 and remaining relaxed amid the chaos that unsettled his team mate Vettel - was often Ferrari’s main threat in 2016. Text - Gerald Donaldson Sebastian Vettel - F1 driver biography Sebastian Vettel Career stats Sebastian Vettel made astonishingly rapid and successful progress through the lower ranks of motorsport. In 2010 he became the youngest ever Formula One world champion and he has held on to the title ever since. Vettel spent eight years in karts, winning the German Junior Karting Championship, Monaco Kart Cup and European Junior Karting Championship in 2001. The following year he was sixth in the Senior ICA Kart Championship and then moved into car racing. He finished second in the 2003 Formula BMW Germany championship and was top rookie.

The following year, aged 17, he emphatically won the title, taking 18 wins from 20 starts and 387 points from a maximum of 400. The following season he was fifth in the Formula Three Euroseries. The championship was dominated by Lewis Hamilton and ASM – Vettel’s ASL team didn’t win a single race, though he was the top rookie. Thanks to his BMW connections Vettel made his debut as an F1 tester for the Williams team. Still aged only 18, he had to ask his school teacher for time off to do the test. The following year Vettel joined Paul di Resta at ASM but finished second to his team mate in the championship. A debut appearance in the World Series by Renault proved much more fruitful – Vettel won both races at Misano. He also appeared at the next round at Spa but badly injured his hand in a 170mph crash. His right index finger was almost severed and had to be stitched back together. BMW Nonetheless Vettel joined BMW’s F1 team as a test driver and became their Friday driver after Robert Kubica was promoted to the race team in Jacques Villeneuve’s place.

Vettel was fastest of all in Friday practice at his first weekend in Turkey, where not only did he also become the youngest driver to participate in a Grand Prix weekend (aged 19 years and 53 days), but he also collected a fine for speeding in the pit lane on the way to the track for the first time. 2007 He began the 2007 season racing in World Series by Renault. But when Kubica was injured during the Canadian Grand Prix Vettel stood in for him at Indianapolis and finished eighth, becoming the youngest driver to score a championship point. Kubica returned at the following round but Vettel got another chance in F1 later that year. Toro Rosso Toro Rosso dropped Scott Speed following the European Grand Prix and Vettel took his place for the rest of the season . While running an excellent third in the wet Japanese Grand Prix Vettel collided with the driver in front of him during a safety car period – worst of all it was fellow Red Bull driver Mark Webber , who had a potential victory in his sights. Vettel redeemed himself at the next race in China, again in wet conditions, where he finished fourth .

2008 Even better followed in 2008, when Vettel dominated the wet Italian Grand Prix, taking pole position and leading almost all the way to win. He said afterwards: In the race itself I was surprised – you’ve just taken the chequered flag in first the race is over, and you’ve won your first Grand Prix. To start with I didn’t understand and started thinking, “What do you say at a time like this?” In the end my engineer, who’s a very quiet guy, came on the radio and told me that I’d just won the Italian Grand Prix. I turned on the radio and started talking very slowly and collectedly, thanking people. It’s dumb – you work your whole life for a moment like this and when it finally happens, you don’t know where you are. But by the end of the slow-dowm lap it clicked and then I turned the radio back on again and screamed my thanks, this time in Italian. Sebastian Vettel It was the culmination of rapid progress by the team throughout the season.

Vettel had often struggled to get beyond the first lap early in the year, but the arrival of the new STR3 chassis at Monte-Carlo followed later by an engine upgrade put the team in among the front runners. Red Bull 2009 By then Vettel had already been confirmed as David Coulthard’s replacement at Red Bull for 2009. But his second full season of F1 didn’t get off to a great start. While running second at Melbourne he overstepped the mark in his attempt to defend his position from Kubica and the pair collided. The steward handed Vettel a grid penalty for the next round at Malaysia, where he also failed to score. This was a setback at the beginning of a year which he ended as runner-up in the drivers’ championship. He won four times, including a dominant wet-weather victory at Shanghai, which echoed his maiden win at Monza. Later in the season the RB5 was often the car to beat and Vettel added wins at Silverstone, Suzuka and Abu Dhabi. But more lost opportunities hampered his championship ambitions: a crash at Monaco, a collision with Kimi Raikkonen at the Hungaroring, and a mistake on the first lap while leading at Istanbul.

A blown engine at Valencia (his second that weekend) hindered his chances further. 2010 Red Bull carried their form into 2010 and Vettel should have won the first two races of the year. But he was hit with car problems while leading in Bahrain and Australia. He did deliver a win in Malaysia but team mate Webber seized the initiative with a series of wins at mid-season. Vettel was frustrated not just by car problems, but also some costly mistakes. He collided with Webber at Istanbul and crashed into Jenson Button at Spa-Francorchamps. But he was rarely off the front row of the grid and started ten of the 19 races from pole position. Late in the season he hit a rich vein of form, winning in Japan and Brazil and leading until his engine blew in Korea. Even so he was the third-ranked title contender heading into the season finale at Abu Dhabi. But as rivals Webber and Alonso hit trouble Vettel claimed his fifth win of the year to snatch the championship in a dramatic turn-around. 2011 Shortly before the 2011 season began Vettel extended his contract with Red Bull until the end of 2014 .

The RB7 was the class of the field once again and this time Vettel used it to exert crushing superiority over his rivals. From 19 races he set pole position 15 times – a new record – and won 11 races. He wrapped up the championship with four races to spare. Vettel comprehensively out-classed team mate Webber, who scored a single win in the final race in Brazil as Vettel suffered a rare gearbox failure. This and a first-lap retirement in Abu Dhabi following a puncture were just about the only things that went wrong for Vettel as he became the first driver since Fernando Alonso in 2006 to win back-to-back world championship titles. 2012 Vettel successfully defended his title again in 2012 after a season-long battle with Alonso. Changes in the technical rules left Red Bull fighting a rearguard action in the opening races. Second for Vettel in the season-opener in Melbourne and victory in round four got the year off to a promising start. But while Red Bull tried to make progress with their RB8 Vettel slipped behind in the title battle and Alonso seized the initiative. A potential win in Valencia was lost due to alternator failure.

At other tracks Webber had clearly got to grips with the new car more quickly. Another alternator failure in Italy cost him points in a race he had already compromised by picking up a penalty while dicing with Alonso. He made a similar mistake with Button in Germany. But Vettel’s season began to turn around after the summer break. A strong drive in Belgium produced a useful second pace finish. He collected victory in Singapore after Hamilton retired in front of him. That began a sequence of races in which he was never headed, winning four times in a row. Having taken the championship lead from Alonso, Vettel’s run of success faltered. He was sent to the back of the grid for a technical infringement in Abu Dhabi but impressively recovered to finish on the podium. Hamilton pinched victory off him in America, and he went into the final round of the championship with a 13-point margin over Alonso. This proved to be just enough after a tense final round at Interlagos in which Vettel was knocked into a spin on lap one and spent the rest of the race with a damaged car. He salvaged sixth place while Alonso could only manage second, which was sufficient for him to keep hold of the championship.

2013 Vettel extended his run of championships in 2013 with his fourth victory in a row. The opening rounds of the championship promised a closely-fought campaign, Vettel sharing wins with Alonso and Raikkonen. Mercedes also started the season strongly, their drivers keeping Vettel from pole position more often than not in the first half of the championships. But regular podium finishes kept Vettel ahead in the points. They included a controversial win in Malaysia, where he defied his team’s order for him to stay behind Webber and passed his team mate in the final stint. After the summer break, which also coincided with a mid-season change in tyre construction which helped Red Bull, Vettel reeled off six consecutive race wins which decided the outcome of the title with three races to go. He kept on winning until the end of the season, setting a new record by taking nine consecutive grand prix victories. 2014 Vettel’s title run and race-winning streak came to an end following a major change in the technical regulations. The switch to V6 hybrid turbo engines was not one that Red Bull, and in particular its engine supplier Renault, was well-prepared for.

However Vettel also struggled to get the best out of the RB11. New team mate Daniel Ricciardo fared much better, and on the occasions when the dominant Mercedes cars were beatable it was he, not Vettel, who capitalised. Vettel slipped to fifth in the championship, and his mounting frustration led him to a major career change. At the Japanese Grand Prix Red Bull announced the pair would part ways, and Vettel was eventually confirmed to be heading to Ferrari, as a replacement for Alonso. Ferrari 2015 Ferrari had endured an even less competitive 2014 campaign than Red Bull, failing to win a single race, but the team turned it around in 2015. Having rectified some of the fundamental shortcomings of their first V6 hybrid turbo, the red cars were in contention for victory much sooner than expected. And Vettel was at the vanguard. Having followed the Mercedes pair home at Melbourne he pressed them harder in Malaysia. When the silver cars made early pit stops due to a Safety Car deployment Vettel took the opportunity to lead the race, exploited the advantage of his car’s performance on softer tyres, and took a surprise win.

It was not, however, the prelude to a championship bid. Mercedes were simply too strong for Vettel to consistently take points away for them. He was, however, by far their closest challenger: while new team mate Kimi Raikkonen showed his potential in China and Bahrain over the balance of the season Vettel easily handled his fellow world champion team mate. Further wins came in Hungary and Singapore: the former thanks to a scrappy performance by the Mercedes pair, the latter as the Ferrari again out-performed the Mercedes on a hot track with soft rubber. Despite a shock at Spa, where a likely podium finish disappeared when a tyre exploded, Vettel even headed Nico Rosberg’s Mercedes in the points standings until the latter stages of the year. He was ultimately forced to settle for third. But three victories and ten other podium finishes was the perfect answer to his detractors after 2014.

Sebastian Vettel pictures Ferrari Drivers on Formula 1 Ferrari Drivers on Formula 1 Saturday, January 17, 2009 Kimi Räikkönen Kimi-Matias Räikkönen (pronounced [ˈkimi ˈmɑtiɑs ˈræikkønen]; born October 17, 1979 in Espoo), nicknamed Iceman, is a Finnish Formula One race car driver, currently driving for Scuderia Ferrari. He was the 2007 Formula One World Drivers' Champion. Räikkönen entered Formula One as a regular driver for Sauber-Petronas in 2001. Having previously only raced in very junior open-wheel categories, he was given his Super Licence from the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA) after a performance delivery promise from his team boss, Peter Sauber.[1] He joined McLaren Mercedes in 2002, and became a title contender by finishing runner-up in the 2003 and 2005 championships to Michael Schumacher and Fernando Alonso, respectively.

Switching to Ferrari in 2007, Räikkönen became the highest paid driver in motor sport with an estimated wage of $51 million per year,[2] in part because the previous highest paid driver Michael Schumacher had retired. In turn his move to Ferrari saw him secure his first Formula One World Drivers' Championship, beating McLaren drivers Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso by one point. Räikkönen is known to be very calm, cool, and calculating in his race strategy—prompting the nickname "Iceman", which is subtly written on the side of his current helmet design. His other nicknames include Kimppa, Räikkä and Kimster (used by his mechanics). In Finland Räikkönen is sometimes humorously nicknamed Räkä (bogey in English), a reference to Mika Häkkinen's moniker Häkä (carbon monoxide in English). In 2008, Räikkönen is one among the two Formula One drivers who made it into the Forbes magazine's The Celebrity 100 list, the other being Fernando Alonso.

He is 36th on Forbes magazine's The Celebrity 100 list of 2008, and 41st on the previous year. [3] On the same list, as of 2008, he is listed as the 26th highest paid celebrity overall and the 5th highest paid sportsman behind Tiger Woods, David Beckham, Michael Jordan and Phil Mickelson. Posted by Biography | Kimi Räikkönen Space Kimi Räikkönen Space Biography Current position: Scuderia Ferrari F1 Team Driver 2016 Biography on formula1.com – “He’s a man of few words,” Jenson Button once said of Kimi Raikkonen, “but he’s all about racing.” Never the most loquacious out of the car, the mercurially-talented 2007 world champion has always preferred to let his driving do the talking, be that in a rally car, on a snowmobile, or, most successfully, in Formula One machinery.

Fast-tracked into the sport with the shortest CV on four wheels, the unknown newcomer who came from nowhere and said next to nothing immediately proved he knew exactly what he was doing: driving a Formula One car as fast as it could possibly go. The car couldn’t always keep up with his talent and it took seven seasons for Kimi ‘Iceman’ Raikkonen to become World Champion. Notoriously inanimate and uncommunicative, the silent speedster’s frozen expression in fact masked the hidden depths in one of the coolest, most original characters in the sport’s history… Kimi Matias Raikkonen spent his childhood in a house built by his great grandfather in Espoo, a suburb of the Finnish capital, Helsinki. To provide for Kimi, born on October 17, 1979, and his older brother Rami, their hard-working parents Matti and Paula toiled, respectively, as a road builder and an office clerk. Money was scarce but the Raikkonens were a happy family and their humble homestead surrounded by open countryside was an ideal environment for the two rambunctious youngsters to flex their racing muscles.

At first (when Kimi was just three years old) the brothers tore around on miniature motocross bikes fitted with training wheels. A move to karts paved the way for Kimi (who began competitive karting at 10) and Rami (who eventually became a successful rally driver) to make rapid progress in motorsport, though it came at a cost. Matti had to work nights as a taxi driver and nightclub bouncer and funds diverted to karting meant plans to replace the outside lavatory with a proper bathroom in the family home had to be postponed. Kimi, a reluctant student who used his schoolbag as a sled to slide down snow-covered hills, enjoyed winter sports, especially ice hockey, though he eventually gave it up because he hated getting up for early-morning practice. At 16 he left school and enrolled in a course for mechanics, believing this skill might be the only way to stay involved in motorsport. Very soon his mechanical expertise, and the need for family funding, became superfluous, as Kimi’s natural talent for driving fast led to sponsored rides. Following a rapid series of successes in Finnish, Nordic and European karting, he jumped into a racing car and promptly won two British-based Formula Renault championships.

In the fall of 2000, despite having just 23 car races to his name, he was given a test by the Sauber Formula One team. Impressed by his immediate pace and assured approach, Sauber shrewdly signed the 21-year old to drive for them in 2001. His having short-circuited the conventional route to the top provoked fierce debate over his right, let alone his readiness, to race at the pinnacle of motorsport. Raikkonen rapidly silenced his critics (he finished sixth in his Grand Prix debut) and attracted the attention of McLaren, who saw him as a likely successor to the retiring two-time champion, Mika Hakkinen. One Finn after another proved to be a good thing for McLaren, for whom Kimi the ‘Iceman’ never gave less than his maximum, always driving to a personal limit that at least equalled, sometimes exceeded, the best of his peers. Experts endlessly praised his seamless, straightforward, mostly mistake-free style. “I never really think about what I’m doing,” Kimi said in a rare outburst of self-analysis.

“I just do it.” His five seasons at McLaren coincided with a period of unevenly performing, often unreliable, cars. Yet he finished second in the championship twice (2003 and 2005), won nine races and finished in the top three on 36 occasions. His podium appearances and subsequent TV interviews exposed him to public scrutiny under which he tended to squirm and fidget, tugging his ears, rubbing his nose and trying to hide beneath his baseball cap. He seldom smiled, spoke sparingly in a mumbled monotone, then all but ran for the nearest exit. Yet in his private life the poker-faced enigma’s icy reserve was prone to spectacular bouts of thawing out. ‘Drunken Race Ace Kimi Bounced Out Of Lapdance Club For Fiddling With His Gearstick!’ shrieked a headline in a British tabloid newspaper. Spanish media gleefully reported that the vodka-loving Flying Finn was found lying fast asleep outside a bar embracing an inflatable rubber dolphin. In Monaco he was filmed cavorting on a yacht, swaying unsteadily on the upper deck then falling onto a lower level where he landed on his head.

“What I do in my private life doesn’t make me drive any slower,” the free-spirited speedster insisted. In truth, the Iceman’s private life was running smoothly and he was well-settled on the domestic front, having in 2004 married Jenni Dahlman, a gorgeous Finnish fashion model and former Miss Scandinavia. At their sumptuous Swiss home there was plenty of room for their two dogs and Kimi’s car collection. Asked to name his most prized possessions, he replied: “My wife and my Ferrari Enzo.” In 2007 he began driving a Ferrari Formula One car for a living, having been hired (for a reported $41 million a year) to fill the considerable void left by the departing seven-time World Champion Michael Schumacher, whose unrivalled work ethic and team leadership qualities were not part of a Raikkonen repertoire that seemed more akin to another past champion.

A week before his debut with the team, Ferrari’s new recruit was in Finland, winning a dangerous snowmobile race he had entered under the alias of ‘James Hunt.’ When the same ‘James Hunt’ later competed in a powerboat race dressed in a gorilla suit Kimi said he invoked the name of his hero as a riposte to the media sensationalization of his private life. He got off to a fast start with Ferrari, winning the season-opener from pole position, though by the penultimate race he was third in the driver standings, behind the McLaren team mates Fernando Alonso, seeking a third successive title, and Lewis Hamilton, the record-breaking rookie. Though Raikkonen had won more races, five to their four apiece, he remained the long shot among the trio of contenders at the final race, in Brazil. The phlegmatic Finn delivered sensationally, winning the race and the 2007 World Drivers’ Championship by a single point. On the podium the new champion swigged as much champagne as he sprayed and, grinning at last, the Iceman broke his silence with a veritable torrent of words. “I’m very happy. I came from pretty much nothing but my family, friends and sponsors helped me get here.

People will probably look differently at me and make up more stories about me. But I am going to lead my life as I want and that’s it.” And so he did. In two more seasons with Ferrari his results tapered off, as did his interest in continuing. At the end of 2009 Ferrari offered him a lucrative way out by buying up the final year of his contract (to make way for Fernando Alonso). Kimi spent the next two seasons amusing himself in the World Rally Championship, an experience he found no substitute for competing at the pinnacle of motorsport, where an opportunity to make a comeback came quickly. At the end of the 2011 season the Lotus Renault GP F1 team announced that in 2012 it would be led by Kimi Raikkonen. ________________________________________________ 1999 Runner-up in the European Formula Super A Karting Championship 2000 Formula Renault UK Champion. Two test sessions with Sauber-Ferrari F1 car.

2001 10th in the F1 World Championship (9 points) with Sauber 2002 6th in the F1 World Championship (24 points) with McLaren 2003 2nd in the F1 World Championship (91 points) with McLaren 2004 7th in the F1 World Championship (45 points) with McLaren 2005 2nd the F1 World Championship (112 points) with McLaren 2006 5th in the F1 World Championship (65 points) with McLaren 2007 Formula One World Champion (110 points) with Ferrari 2008 3rd in the F1 World Championship (75 points) with Ferrari 2009 6th in the F1 World Championship (48 points) with Ferrari 2010 10th in the World Rally Championship (25 points) with Citroen Junior WRC Team 2011 10th in the World Rally Championship (34 points) with ICE1 RACING Team, 2 races in NASCAR Championship with Kyle Busch Motorsports 2012 

3rd in the F1 World Championship (207 points) with Lotus 2013 5th in the F1 World Championship (183 points) with Lotus 2014 12th in the F1 World Championship (55 points) with Ferrari 2015 – 4th in the F1 World Championship (150 points) with Ferrari 2016 – 5th in the F1 World Championship (186 points) with Ferrari ________________________________________________ 2011 Team: ICE ONE RACING 2010 Team: Citroen Junior Team 2010 Teammate: Dani Sordo, Sebastien Ogier Business Founder of Ice 1 Racing Motocross team ( Twitter , Tumblr ) Family Parents: Matti & Paula (Matti passed away on 23rd December 2010) Grandmother: Sirkka (passed away in 2009) Brother: Rami (Rally driver) Ex-Wife (Divorced): Jenni Dahlman (married 31st July 2004-2013) Wife: Minna-Marie “Minttu” Virtan

en (married 7th August 2016), her Instagram Son: Robin Matias Ace Raikkonen, mother Minttu (born 27th January 2015) Best Friend: Toni Vilander (GT driver) Sports Hobbies: Snowboarding , jogging, gym, Motocross , Snowcross , ice-hockey , skidoos, jet-ski, golf (learned in England), Rallying Motorsports: Watches almost all motorsports on TV Favorite Rally Driver: Tommi Mäkinen and Markus Gronholm , friends with Anton Alen Favorite Ice Hockey Team: Espoo, Finland and enthusiastically watches the NHL teams Favorite Football Team: Finnish National Soccer Team Best F1 Overtaking Manouver: Mika Häkkinen overtaking Michael Schumacher in Spa 2000 Education Qualification: Regular Finnish school system Favorite Subject: Sports (esp.

ice hockey during winter) Conscription: 12 months compulsary service in Finnish Army Languages Spoken: Finnish and English Supporters Fans: “Its nice to have fans and I really like all the support I get.” Website Visits: “Yes for sure.” (Read various Kimi interviews ) Money Formula A Karting: first race, and first win, 23rd April. 1996- Karting Grand Prix (European Series) World Championship races and Nordic Championship races; no wins in Finnish Championship, Class Formula A; finished 4th overall 1997- Finnish Championship, Class Intercontinental A, Champion Nordic Championship, Class Intercontinental A; 4th overall, Karting Grand Prix and World Championship races – invited to drive with Peter de Bruin Team 1998- Lived in the Netherlands. Finnish Championship, class Formula A; Champion. Nordic Championship; Champion. Class Formula Intercontinental A, European Karting Grand Prix; winner. Super A; 2nd overall. Monaco Cup, class Super A; 3rd overall. World Championship, Formula Super A; retired from 7th position.

1999- Finnish Championship, Class Formula A; 2nd overall. Finnish World Championship, class Formula Super A; 10th. Ford Zetec Euro Cup; 5th. Ford Festival, retired in the final. First Formula Renault race, with Haywood Racing; 3rd. Formula Renault Winter Series, with Manor Motorsport; winner, with four wins from four races. 2000- British Renault 2000, Champion with Manor Motorsport (despite competing in only 10 rounds of the series), seven wins, six pole positions, seven fastest laps. Finished on the podium in all 10 races contested; European Formula Renault Championship: competed in only three rounds, two wins, two pole positions, two fastest laps. Retired while leading in third race due to mechanical failure.

Tested for Red Bull Sauber Petronas Formula One team at Mugello Kimi Raikkonen by Timothy Collings, England (2001) Formula One journalists are used to seeing new promising talents show up in Formula One, racked up with trophies from F3000 or F3, hailed as the Next Best Thing, then only to vanish into the long list of “had potential” has-beens. But Kimi Raikkonen is different. He simply showed up out of nowhere, with little if any experience in open wheel racing. The FIA refused to give him a superlicense; the pundits in the paddock raised an eyebrow at Peter Sauber. Four races into the season, Kimi-mania is very much alive, and veterans of the press center are talking about the young Finn with enthusiasm rarely seen. Timothy Collings caught up with the endearing youngster, to hear from him about life in the fast lane.

Having overcome some pre-season prejudice caused by his inexperience, a team decision to ban his and his teammate’s girlfriends from the garage, pits and team hotel, and a cynical press with little faith in Peter Sauber’s ability to spot a rising star, Kimi Raikkonen will have enjoyed hearing the sound of words being munched with rare enthusiasm in the last few weeks. This 21-year-old open-faced, broad-shouldered and straight-talking Finn is a rising star, has phenomenal talent and will almost certainly have a flock of females following him around for months and years to come, whatever anyone may try to do about it. In short, as Frank Williams has recently admitted, he is the newcomer to have made the biggest impression so far in the 2001 season. Yet, to meet him is to meet a shy, bashful and endearingly unsophisticated young man with few cares in the world apart from the performance of his Sauber Petronas car. Speed, reliability and drivability are the keystones of his life. And the rest of it all is taken in his stride with a slow grin. He is not used to big crowds, noisy cities or polluted racetracks.

He is used to wide open spaces and nature all around him close to his native Espoo in Finland. But nobody would ever know. He just eats it all up with a vengeance. “Formula One is easier than I expected it to be,” he said at Imola. “I was worried at first, more nervous than upset. But it is not so bad. I am getting used to it now. Maybe the worst thing was just the start and getting used to things. When we were told ‘no girlfriends’ it was a bit of a fuss, you know. But, I am not bothered now by the rules, they are not against me. If I want to bring my girlfriend here now, I can. There are no special races. And about the superlicence to drive in Formula One – I don’t think about it. It is not a worry. They will check it, they are just rules — not a problem.” In speech, Raikkonen wastes nothing. Words come sparingly. He talks as he drives, with controlled precision. Speed is gained by the lack of fuss. The message is communicated and he is ready for the next question.

It is not like talking to Keke Rosberg, not quite yet, but there is something of all Finns in this young man with his steady gaze, steady hands and outrageous level of ability. No wonder Peter Sauber is smiling all the way to Maranello for his next batch of customer engines from Ferrari. His only real beef, in the circumstances, will be that the new Finnish superstar may also end up in a scarlet machine, perhaps as Michael Schumacher’s next change of partner. However, confusion still reigns over the conclusion of Raikkonen’s probation period after the young Finn was voted into Formula One before the start of the season, despite his very limited experience, and he is currently racing on a provisional superlicence. Before the start of the season, Peter Sauber, manager of Raikkonen’s team, said that the young star’s superlicence would be under review after the fourth race of the season in San Marino, but with that over, the FIA have remained quiet on the matter, and no-one connected with the young star has been contacted. The FIA regulations state that every new driver receives his superlicence on a probationary period of one year, but Raikkonen received his license under exceptional circumstances.

The governing body have confirmed that this means he will have his performance reviewed after every three months during his first Grand Prix year, but could not reveal when the superlicence was issued. However, a spokesperson confirmed it is extremely unlikely that the license would be taken away considering Raikkonen’s superb performances during the season so far, and added that the probation automatically continues unless there are any problems. But at this time of his career, Raikkonen is not concerned by the supposed uncertainty of his future and he is more interested in learning circuits, people’s names and other drivers’ good and bad habits. “Yes, this is my first time here, I’ve never been here before,” he confirmed in Imola, at the Autodromo Enzo e Dino Ferrari. “I think it is quite a nice circuit. And for me it is nice to be back in Europe again. The circuit is good. Uphill and downhill which is interesting. I like it. I liked Brazil quite a lot. But they are all different. So far, I have liked them all and they have all been new! “It makes no difference to me that we have Ferrari engines. It means nothing with me or the Italian crowd. I am just driving the same as anywhere.

I feel better, now, of course, than at the beginning of the season. I have more confidence. Then I was unsure what it was going to be like in Formula One. Now, I know. There are no surprises I think. I know a little bit now. You always learn something every time you go in the car and you go quicker every time. Now, for me, it is getting better because I am learning more things all the time. I am more used to it and I am getting faster and better, I think. “Of the 17 circuits for this year, I have only driven at Barcelona, and at Spa, Silverstone — but only on the half circuit, and Magny-Cours in testing. No others. Not Monza. But I think I learn quickly. I have no special system. I just go easy at first and the best thing is to have someone else that you can go behind for a while. But of course you don’t always get any help. I haven’t asked anyone for help at all. I slow down if someone is coming and they are quicker. Also I find the in-car camera is a big help when I watch the other drivers.

“I have done a few races now, yes, but I still don’t really know anybody. Not personally. Not the other drivers. It is not like that. I know Mika a bit, of course. He talks to me sometimes at the drivers’ briefing. We have a little talk. I didn’t follow him particularly, but of course I remember well when he started in Formula One. When I started to go racing, I had no idea that I wanted to go to Formula One. That only started for me in the last two years. And I have been very lucky to have good management behind me — my main manager is Steve Robertson. “I have always enjoyed motorsport. When I was five or something, I was doing moto-cross and things like that. I liked it. Yes, I could have gone to rallying, but I didn’t because my brother was in rallying. I was not going to do the same as him. My older brother and me, we were both in karts and doing OK. I didn’t want to copy him. He is nearly two years older than me and his name is Rami. I don’t get home much. I have just moved to Switzerland to live in Hinwil.

I have been there for four days now. It is good. I have my own place and I like it. But it is difficult to be there very long as we are always away somewhere. It is something I have to get used to…” Like racing among the big boys, showing people that he deserves not only a superlicense but to be among the Formula One front-runners, and that he has the talent to go all the way to the top. Like it, share it with other Kimi fans!

Question: Who became the 2007 Formula One World Driver's Champion in October?
Answer: Kimi Raikkonen