Kimi Raikkonen is 34 years old today, and it’s fair to say that he’s given Formula One fans a lot to talk about since he burst onto the scene with Sauber back in 2001.
Although he’s now one of F1’s elder statesmen in terms of the average grid age, Raikkonen still has plenty more in the tank as he winds down his spell at Lotus in preparation for a return to Ferrari in 2014.
His daredevil driving style, laid-back persona and wicked indifference to press duties make him one of the most popular drivers on the F1 grid.
So without further ado, here are some of the many highlights of the “Ice Man’s” career to date.
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ZitatFormula One warms to Kimi's icy indifference Abu Dhabi 2012, lap 22. Lotus-Renault's race engineer, Simon Rennie, crackled to life in the ears of the race leader, Kimi Raikkonen. "Okay Kimi, the next car behind you is Alonso," Rennie said. No answer. "Alonso is five seconds behind you," Rennie said again, hoping to draw a response from the Finn. Again, silence. So Rennie gave it one more shot. Today, he is perhaps the only one wishing he hadn't.
"Five seconds Kimi, five seconds," he said, praying to drive his point — the gap between Raikkonen and second-placed Fernando Alonso — home. Still, silence. "I'll keep you updated on the gap. I'll keep you updated on the pace. I'll keep..." Unable to take any more of it, Raikkonen cut in. "Just leave me alone," he said. "I know what I'm doing."
The rest is Youtube history.
That day at the Yas Marina Circuit, Raikkonen clearly knew what he was doing. To clinch the top step of the podium, he pulled past the chequered flag with a 0.8s lead over Alonso's Ferrari. It was his first win after making a long awaited comeback to the sport earlier that season. But right until the very end, he wasn't left alone.
Just 20 laps before the end, Rennie's voice had filled the space between Raikkonen's ears. The race engineer said: "Okay Kimi, we need to keep working all four tyres, please. all four...."
"Yes, yes, yes, yes. I'm doing that all the time. You don't have to remind me every 10 seconds."
Even if the advice didn't, the win clearly meant a lot to Raikkonen. For when Maamme, the Finnish national anthem, played at the presentation ceremony, Raikkonen was found blinking back a tear. A rare melting moment for a man who has 'Iceman' tattooed on his left forearm.
Looking to tap into this raw show of emotion, David Coulthard, Raikkonen's former McLaren teammate turned TV pundit, asked the victor what the triumph meant to him. "Your first victory since the Belgian GP in 2009. What emotions are you feeling right now?" asked Coulthard. Raikkonen, hugging his trophy and moist-eyed, shrugged and said: "Not much."
Laconic Kimi
There is perhaps no other driver in current day Formula 1 who makes his utterances as remarkable as the thrill of winning itself. It's funny, considering that the less Raikkonen speaks, the more enthralled his followers are. It's the same with the press. It happened at the Buddh International Circuit on Friday, with Raikkonen delivering another answer that will slip into the 'Classic Kimi' archives.
"Kimi, given the way Lotus has been performing this season and how the Ferrari has been struggling of late, how do you feel about signing up with Ferrari next year?" asked a journalist. The 34-year old driver scratched his forearm, adjusted the peak of his cap and said, deadpan: "Good." Everyone, including the questioner and the five other drivers seated on the dais, laughed. Only Raikkonen remained dead serious.
"Formula 1 was poorer without him for those two years, 2009 and 2010, when he left for WRC," says Martin Brundle. The former British driver missed him more than most, considering that a year before Raikkonen became one of the highest paid sportspersons of all time with his $51million-per-season deal with Ferrari in 2007 (a salary he backed up with his maiden world championship at the end of the season), he gave Brundle a sound-byte to remember.
Just before the start of the 2006 Brazilian Grand Prix, Brundle, with a TV crew by his side, asked the then McLaren driver just why he had chosen to miss a ceremony where Pele had presented Michael Schumacher with a lifetime achievement award. Raikonnen, adjusting the zipper on his jump-suit, looked into the rolling camera and said: "I was having a shit."
"So much for being diplomatic," says Brundle, chuckling seven years later. "I have had about a thousand moments I consider memorable once I moved to the other side of the pit-lane as a presenter. But that has to be a high point. It typifies Kimi's attitude and approach. It also typifies just why his fans love him."
Gearing up
And few love him more than the man who has witnessed every interaction between Raikkonen and the media since his comeback, Lotus' press officer Andy Stobart. If Brundle missed his presence during those two years, Raikkonen's colleagues in the Lotus garage like Stobart are already gearing up for his absence next season.
"To celebrate the Abu Dhabi win, he got 650 tee-shirts printed with the words: 'Just leave me alone, I know what I'm doing.' It was a great touch to cut the tension," Stobart says. "I mean the man is only human. If someone repeats the same thing over and over again, like you journalists do during question hour, he is going to be straight as an arrow with his words."
Someone who has seen plenty of that is Bob Constanduros. A man who has compered the last 550 or so press conferences in Formula 1. A man who considers Raikkonen, and getting him to talk, as one of the stiffest challenges in his career. "It's a problem, isn't it? The thing about Kimi is, what you see is what you get. There's no complications. He says it absolutely like it is," Constanduros says.
So what was his favourite Kimi moment? "Well, all of them actually. But during the FIA Awards last year, a very pretty girl hugged Kimi and kept telling him how she met him in Belgium and how she told him he would win and he did. Then she asked him, 'Now do you remember me from four years ago?' Kimi, not one to mince his words even with lovely lasses, said, 'No. I don't remember what happen yesterday.'"
Haha love it. " title="ha" /> It just shows how non-political Kimi is. arts" title="hearts" /> He doesn't suck up to people not even his fans, which many drivers will bend over to do especially when there are other people around!. " title="ii" />
ZitatLotus in Abu Dhabi will return the short wheelbase for Raikkonen 29 October 2013 12:36 Written by : James Rauli
The team at Enstone has decided to revive the short wheelbase in the next round of Abu Dhabi only for Raikkonen , who failed to adapt better to the solution of the long-wheelbase E21
raikkonen -lotus - e21Dall'introduzione the long-wheelbase version of the E21 , the team Lotus has enjoyed exponential growth of Romain Grosjean , culminated by several podiums and performance to emphasize consistency , speed and clever tactics .
If the British team has grown from one race to the French, however, has had to deal with a sensitive Raikkonen in involution , with a touch of nervousness too , as denoted by the now famous consumatosi team radio during the race in New Delhi .
The Finn , in contrast to his team-mate , seems to be worse with the new version of the E21 , despite the long wheelbase ensures more balance and - in theory - the biggest advantages in certain types of track. Since the Korean Grand Prix in fact, Raikkonen took a second, a fifth and a seventh, for a total of thirty-four points. Grosjean instead rose three times on the podium , all on the third step , for a total of forty points. The difference between the two is not deduced only by numbers, but often indicate the progress of a pilot or a car, but also by the performance in qualifying and consistency in the race. If we exclude the last qualification Grosjean , ruined by a mistaken strategy in Q2 , we can see the Alps in the last GP has often placed behind the Finn , while in race appeared more solid and without significant performance degradation between one stint and the other .
To remedy this situation , Lotus Raikkonen will entrust to a short wheelbase E21 in the first two rounds of free in Abu Dhabi, the next leg of the World , 2013, with the specific intent to help him find the performance shown until the end of the summer that the have led to nab the provisional third place in the world dedicated to the pilots. The E21 Raikkonen will have the wheelbase of one hundred millimeters, as it was in the early part of the season.
Grosjean instead should continue and finish the current world with the E21 long wheelbase car which took three podiums in a row , threatening to win the GP and Sebastian Vettel put in serious trouble in the Japanese race at Suzuka . As for the French, we should in all probability find him in Lotus also in 2014 , despite still missing from the official team .
Zitat von icemaidYiNing, I am not sure about LWB but I thought Kimi's problem is rather the "new" tyres.
The sceptic in me thinks maybe there are some stuff in LWB they want to improve & didn't want Kimi to know & bring along the knowledge with him.
All these recent bad vibes coming from the team making me illogical & don't trust them anymore.
Zitat von WHATEVERNo actually I've read the LWB also didn't quite click with Kimi like the new tyres, so I think this is good news. Or so I hope
Zitat von YiNingNo, I remembered Kimi was the first one to try out the LWB and he didn't like it so they decided not to run it. I believe Kimi can adjust to the tyres much easier than LWB, I guess probably Kimi request to have the old SWB car back otherwise why would they go through the trouble to bring it back.
Zitat von BoudicaIt is good to bring back the old wheelbase, of course if Kimi suddenly does much better then Lotus will be looking like idiots. So this was a risk for them, I think it is gesture to try and mend the fences. It is properly Boullier's decision.
I hope it works for Kimi, I do think Kimi is still fast in the races with long wheelbase so I dont know, I guess we'll see.
Zitat von icemaidLet's hope the SWB works well for Kimi then!
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#1303 | RE: IcemanWed Oct 30, 2013 3:46 pm (Last edited: Wed Oct 30, 2013 3:59 pm)
It’s stormy around Lotus! They shouted curse words to Kimi Räikkönen during the Indian GP and Kimi replied back in the same way. Right after that, the Twitter-verse was filled with harsh criticisms from fans. However, Erkki Mustakari believes that the situation will soon calm down.
“Eki, Lotus got a crash course when Kimi didn’t give way to Grosjean in Indian GP. Now the situation within the team is explosive. Do you believe that Kimi will drive the remaining races in Lotus?”, Toimitus asks.
Eki replies, “I have to say that Räikkönen’s end at Lotus is at least colorful. However I believe that the situation will calm down, because the team is racing for 2nd in WCC which is financially a very significant thing for them. If Lotus have only Davide Valsecchi to put in Kimi’s place, then they lose the game. Usually these matters concerning personal chemistry can in the end be put down in order to achieve a mutual goal. If they can’t do it, then they have very childish persons in the team – they might as well all go and play with toy cars instead.”
The Toimitus asks, “what kind of a sin did Räikkönen really commit when he didn’t immediately give Grosjean way?”
“None whatsoever. Räikkönen is not the kind of driver who gives up a fight in a nanosecond. Through cursing, it in one or another way, shares opinions,” said Eki.
“What do you think about the race strategy in India GP?” asks Toimitus next.
Eki replies, “Räikkönen going for the first time to the pitstop after only seven laps did not indicate that he was on a one-stop -strategy. The plan was probably to do two stops, but they changed plans during the race and went for a one-stopper, taking a huge risk to drive 53 laps on medium tyres. It was a massive risk. The race was there. They are now stuck with a massive aftermath.”
“Last question, is Lotus now focused on serving Grosjean only after Kimi’s Ferrari-deal was announced?” asks Toimitus.
Eki replies, “Lotus will concentrate on supporting both drivers as much as possible, because the team wants to do well in WCC. But I’m pretty much sure that Romain Grosjean is the driver number one next season, which will especially please Total, because they have used Grosjean in their ads for two years.”
quote Elementary… Posted on October 31, 2013 Kimi Raikkonen c/o James Moy Photography
Kimi Raikkonen c/o James Moy Photography
There’s a lot more to this Kimi Vs Lotus debacle than meets the eye. Actually, let me rephrase that. There’s a lot less to this Kimi Vs Lotus debacle than meets the eye.
OK, so here are the facts.
Kimi hasn’t been paid. Kimi is off to Ferrari. Kimi’s patience was tested by a frantic radio message from the team in India, made out of exasperation at him not heeding team orders to let his team-mate through, who was faster at that point in the race but critical on engine. Kimi had serious words with the team after the race. Kimi failed to turn up in the Abu Dhabi paddock today.
All would seem to be deeply unwell with the relationship, and there is no doubt that there are serious strains between the Finn and the team which brought him back to F1 just under two years ago. The relationship may be at breaking point. Kimi may have been on the verge of deciding not to race in Abu Dhabi this weekend. Kimi may yet fail to see out the season with Lotus.
But Kimi was not in the paddock today because he had never had any intention of being. And this decision was taken long before he was told to get out of the effing way.
On Sunday morning in India a few colleagues and I had a coffee and a croissant at Lotus hospitality and were chewing the fat with someone at the team whose job it is to know where the drivers are and what they are doing. We were talking about travel plans to the next race and when we would all be getting to the UAE. Romain was getting there early and would be doing a bit of PR work in the week. And Kimi? Kimi was going back home to Switzerland. He would be flying to Abu Dhabi on Thursday?
“On Thursday?” we asked, “Isn’t that a bit late… for media and stuff?”
“Well yes, but it wouldn’t be the first time he’d missed it, would it?”
This was Sunday morning. In India.
So why was Lotus making media notifications that included interview slots for the Finn when he would either be at the airport or in the sky? Why was no notification given to the media that these interviews were not going to take place?
Perhaps this team member had got things wrong. But I doubt that as he had no reason to tell us false travel plans, and would have been well within the loop of who was going to be where and when.
Perhaps Kimi changed his travel plans late in the day to arrive in time for media sessions but then thought better of it and switched them back again. But that seems like an awful lot of hassle for a man famous for not being a massive fan of hassle.
Davide Valsecchi, the man Lotus would rely upon to stand in for Raikkonen if he fails to race this weekend, entered the paddock precisely at 15:00 today. That is precisely the time when Raikkonen was due to be in media interviews. Every other driver, be they reserve pilot or world champion, had long since been in the paddock. So why the precise timing of 15:00?
To me this entire thing smacks of the creative PR for which Lotus has marked itself out. It smells like a team trying to keep a headline going, trying to keep the wheels on a story that keeps them top of the twitter trending tree.
Social media is a critical tool for Lotus. Some are fans of the way they go about it. Others not. Sources tell me that the after the Indian Grand Prix and the manner in which the team spoke to Raikkonen, the team’s social media pages took a hammering both from comments and depleting numbers of followers or fans. The team’s hasty apology to Raikkonen midweek seemed to have been an attempt not to curry favour with their driver, but simply to stem the flow of social media fans away from their pages.
Pages which, if we are honest, will heamorrhage fans when Kimi moves to Ferrari anyway, and the Finn’s ardent supporters go with him.
What was it Arthur Conan Doyle wrote to come from the mouth of Sherlock Holmes? “When you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth.” Something like that, I seem to recall.
While there is no impossibility in the factors around Kimi’s travel plans having changed since Sunday, I for one do not buy the explanation. Because as I understand it this is the way it was always supposed to be.
As such, the only truth I can garner from anything today is that while Kimi and Lotus’ relationship is strained, and while there is a chance he won’t see out the season, today has got absolutely nothing to do with it.
He was never supposed to be here. The fact that he isn’t, simply isn’t a story.
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Thu Oct 17, 2013 9:37 pm (Last edited: Wed Oct 30, 2013 2:26 pm)
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