Not known to be a man of many words, Kimi ‘The Iceman’ Räikkönen has always let his driving do the talking. Having joined the Ferrari in 2007, he won his first and only Formula One World Championship with them, in their very first year together.
Born on 17th October, 1979 in Espoo, Finland, Kimi had an inherent need for speed. Combining this with his congenital competitive streak; he had a potent mix to make a formidable racing driver. The Finn started his racing career at the age of 10. While most kids his age were either playing ball, or riding bicycles, Kimi was racing karts. He despised losing and this was seen even in those early years.
One incident that showcased all of the above is the kart race that he participated in, at the age of 16 in Monaco. During the course of the race he was thrown on the wrong side of the safety fence in a first lap collision, but continued driving until he ran out of road. Undeterred, he lifted his kart back on to the track and continued to race. His mechanic thought Räikkönen had retired, but he eventually caught up with the other competitors and finished third.
In 1998 he was 1st in the Nordic (karting) Championship at Varna in Norway. In 1999, Räikkönen finished second in the European Formula Super A championship. At age twenty, he had won the British Formula Renault winter series, winning the first four races of the year. In 2000, he won seven out of ten races in the Formula Renault UK Championship. In two series of Formula Renault i.e. 1999, 2000, he won 13 out of the 23 events.
On the back of all the success in these junior series, Peter Sauber tested the young Finn at Mugello, Jerez and Barcelona, before offering him a race seat for the 2001 season. Despite receiving criticism and concerns being raised about his relative inexperience, Kimi was granted an F1 Super License, and immediately silenced his critics by scoring a championship point in his maiden race. That year Kimi helped Sauber to their best ever finish in the constructors championship, a 4th place.
Räikkönen''s performance did not just silence the nay sayers, but also impressed McLaren boss Ron Dennis so much that he offered Kimi the race seat left vacant by two-time world champion, and compatriot, Mika Hakkinen, for the 2002 season. He finished his debut season with a 6th place in the Driver’s Championship, but helped McLaren to a 3rd place finish in the constructors. 2003, was the season where Kimi was to come close to his dream of winning the title. Taking his maiden GP victory at Malaysia, he and Juan Pablo Montoya were the only serious contenders to Michael Schumacher’s championship hopes that year. Finishing on the podium 10 times in that year, was still not enough to give him the much coveted WDC, losing out to Schumacher by just two points, in the final race at Suzuka.
2004 was to be a disappointing year for Kimi and McLaren, with the ‘Ice Man’ scoring only 45 points all season, finishing on the podium only 4 times, and 7th in the Drivers’ Championship. In 2005, Kimi again came close to winning the title, but got edged out by Renault’s Fernando Alonso, who clinched his first championship. 2006, his last season at McLaren was again lacklustre. With only six podium finishes and no victories, Kimi finished 5th in the championship, with 65 points.
In 2007, Räikkönen decided to move on to Ferrari, again, stepping in to take the seat left vacant by another world champion, Michael Schumacher. After repeated instances of missing out on the top honours for nearly five years in the running, the year 2007 was finally destined to be Kimi’s season. It was one of the most exciting ones of recent times, with the title going down to the wire.
In the last race of the season, at Sao Paulo, Kimi Räikkönen edged out McLaren’s Fernando Alonso and Lewis Hamilton, to seal the title by one point. But 2008 was again an ordinary season for the world champion. He started off well, only to drop his form, long enough to count himself out of the reckoning. But Kimi - who many thought would quit the sport due to speculated lack of motivation, signed a contract extension with Ferrari, to keep him in the team till at least 2010.
Kimi’s performance in 2009 was his worst since 2004. A 6th place in the drivers’ run was not what Ferrari was looking at. But a series of rule changes and a technical goof ups in the F60 meant that Ferrari had lost the race right from the start when the Brawn GP cars and the Red Bulls had risen. Despite this fact and the absence of teammate Felipe Massa after the 10th round of the season, the Finn had managed to win the Belgian GP and earn five podiums for his team.
Virtually speaking, Kimi had single-handedly done for Ferrari what any team would never had expected their driver to do in an unfavourable season like that. But the Maranello-based team believed otherwise and decided to sack him for the 2010 season to accommodate Spanish driver Fernando Alonso.
Outside the disciplined and regimental world of Formula One, Kimi is known to be a wild child. Living up to adage “work hard, party harder”, the Ice Man from Finland very often lets his guard down, while simply trying to have a good time. Married to a supermodel, and being one of the highest paid Formula One drivers on the grid, Kimi lives the good life on the fast lane. He may have many flaws off the race track, but once on it, there aren’t too many drivers who can hold a candle to Kimi Mathias Räikkönen.