“Kimi Raikkonen: A Brief Biography”
The 11 year old sports fanatic’s boyish passion for kart racing rapidly evolved into a career choice as Kimi Raikkonen hastily established himself as a formidable talent in his local hometown of Finland. Although as a kart-racer Raikkonen was unable to clinch any major victories, the young Finn’s initial stunt at racing confirmed him as an emerging force to be reckoned with.
Raikkonen’s move into the world of single-seater’s came almost a decade after he had first set foot into the kart racing arena. The rookie driver took the scene by storm when he bagged an impressive seven victories, 316 championship points and six pole standings after deciding to make his initiation into the stage with the UK Formula Renault series. The young competitor’s conspicuous successes that season were to immediately bring him to the attention of several Formula One bosses who demonstrated an interest in signing him.
Raikkonen speedily booked a place with the Sauber squad for the 2001 competition after he impressed the Swiss team with a dazzling test run display. He was able to clinch nine championship points with a tempo and regularity that won great praise in the Formula One world and prompted McLaren boss, Ron Dennis, to swiftly add Raikkonen to the payroll for the coming five seasons as a substitute for his retiring champion Mika Hakkinen.
Pouring cold water over fears he was too inexperienced to compete at such a high level, Raikkonen’s flourishing performances in his first season with McLaren were a fitting riposte for his detractors. Although unable to seal a victory, the Finn nevertheless managed to overshadow his highly experienced teammate David Coulthard in the qualifiers and sealed four podium positions.
In 2002, Raikkonen clinched his first major title in Malaysia and his subsequent ten podium finishes left him only a couple of points short of beating Michael Schumacher in the race for championship victory. Unfortunately, in 2004, Raikkonen’s successful run was put to a halt when the unpredictability of his McLaren machine forced him to retire from all three opening rounds of the year. A decisive win at Belgium and a pole position at Silverstone at the latter stages of the 2004 season were crucial in enabling the Finn to salvage his prominence as team mate David Coulthard descended further into oblivion.
2005 saw Raikkonen being paired with Colombian Juan Pablo Montoya, and as with David Coulthard, the Finn was able to constantly out-perform his new teammate. Although the unpredictability-blighted McLaren cars made an unpromising start to the 2005 season, they were gradually able to step-up performance and Raikkonen finally managed to clinch five pole positions, five podium standings and seven victories. Yet the Finn’s hopes for the ultimate championship title were thwarted by Renault’s Fernando Alonso, who was able to salvage the lead. For a racer universally acknowledged as the swiftest on track, ending up second behind the winner twice in three years was an unpalatable pill to swallow, yet this did nothing to distract Raikkonen’s tenaciously focused performances on the grid as the coming 2006 season would subsequently prove.
Heedless of the diversion affected by team mate Montoya’s unexpected switch to NASCAR, the Finn clinched meaningful points in all the races he managed to complete. Yet the same season saw him seize a joyless fifth position in the overall championship and he was forced to retire from the race more than once. By the end of the season, a move to Ferrari as a replacement for the outgoing Michael Schumacher was palpably on the cards for Raikkonen, who quickly established he was equal to the task of shouldering the burden of filling the extraordinary void left by the German’s exit, proving that his reputation as “the iceman” was by no means unfounded.
In 2007, Raikkonen made a triumphant start to the season in Australia with his new team, and ultimately concluded the year with a victory after having denied the championship title to his former bosses McLaren. The 2008 season was less generous to the Finn, who was reduced to play the fiddle to team mate Felipe Massa after having lost much of the qualifying flair that had distinguished him. The 2009 season was equally unyielding, and towards the end of the year Raikkonen announced his retirement from Formula One, moving to compete in the World Rally Championship instead.
Tags: