Quote: Appletree wrote in post #76Minttu has by the way packet the bags. Are they going to go to holiday after the Malysia or will we see little boy visiting paddock?
I love the fact that Minttu and little Robin are traveling along with Kimi. Minttu has been really supportive of Kimi's career.
Quote: Appletree wrote in post #76Minttu has by the way packet the bags. Are they going to go to holiday after the Malysia or will we see little boy visiting paddock?
from her post today she still seems to be in Switzerland. And I thought they were in Finland last weekend but not sure anymore, it's not clear from her writing. I also like that she is supporting Kimi but I don't think it would be good idea to go to Malaysia with Robin. And in one of her recent blog posts she wrote she can't wait for European races so probably they will only be there then
"Walk on, through the wind, Walk on, through the rain, Though your dreams be tossed and blown. Walk on, walk on with hope in your heart, And you'll never walk alone, YOU`LL NEVER WALK ALONE!!!"
quoteHow to make Kimi Raikkonen smile in one easy step
10th april 2015
The author rode in an F12berlinetta with that famous race driver not known for subtlety or humor. And then we asked him to step on it. By Sam Smith
I rode with Kimi yesterday. I don't know how many people have said those words, but I assume the number is small and that most of those folks own enormous yachts. Oversize boats, like cocaine or your third greatest-hits album, are a way that God lets you know you're making too much money. And most people do not get to ride around a racetrack with a Ferrari F1 driver unless they make too much money.
Kimi Räikkönen. Finnish, 35 years old. A few years ago, at the U.S. Grand Prix, a PR person asked me, "How do you solve a problem like Kimi?" You do not solve Kimi, because he is wonderful. He is a former world champion, for one. He is famously icy and forthright, for another. And while we're on the subject of boats, in 2007, our squire entered a Finnish powerboat race with two friends, each man wearing a gorilla costume. Google it: Finns, wave-jumping, enough fake fur to choke a howitzer. You have to assume the idea was cooked up sober. Or not.
Most pro drivers are too polished. The exceptions, the latter-day James Hunts, are outweighed by the brooding Lewis Hamiltons, the perfect Nico Rosbergs. Thankfully, Gorilla Boat is just one star in the Kimi firmament of unpredictable, human, and deeply excellent acts. We must applaud him, fete him, perhaps erect statues to him in the form of giant apes. I don't know what's appropriate—maybe a gorilla in a crash helmet atop a rearing horse, like Napoleon Crossing the Alps. Whatever is standard practice for emperors and Kardashians these days.
When I met the man, at Ferrari's Fiorano test track, it followed an afternoon of Waiting for Godot tension. Will he come? Soon. Perhaps. Maybe. He's late. He's off doing Finnish things. (Hearing that last line, I immediately pictured pony trekking and snogging in an old Volvo, which tells you how much I know about Finland.)
Unlike Godot, he showed. He stood before a crowd of media in rumpled pants and a Ferrari soft shell, hands in his pockets. He gave a series of awkward half-smiles for photos, trying but obviously uncomfortable. The way he was shepherded around, you got the impression he'd been dragged out of bed against his will, maybe with the promise of ice cream at the end of the day. At one point, I caught him rubbing an eye with a balled-up hand, like my 18-month-old daughter after a nap.
We were at Fiorano for a daylong clinic on the F12berlinetta. Customers had complained that the 730-hp F12 was too fast—gasp!—for the road and homicidal on the track, so Ferrari gave journalists data-logged lapping and instruction from factory test driver Raffaele de Simone in an attempt to prove otherwise. Also, it was raining. (I am no Raffaele de Simone, but the car was a friendly slide-a-roonie. Ferrari customers need to have some grappa and chill out.)
At the end of the day, there were rides with Kimi. It's been said that Ferrari can be too manipulative with its heritage; be that as it may, you stand trackside at Fiorano, next to the farmhouse holding Enzo's old office, and you feel everything they want you to. You hear whispers of Lauda and Gilles and Schumacher, flat-twelves and V12s and bloodthirst. And then you get in.
Dude woke up.
The car changed him. He was alive, smirking, beating the thing like it owed him money. It wasn't just sideways—it was aggro, a rally driver's commitment and surgical hand movements coupled with a screw-the-car abandon rarely seen outside trailer parks. At one point, after a 110-mph drift that ended with two wheels nipping the grass, I looked over.
"Is that all? Is there more crazy?"
"I guess?" he said, shrugging. And then he went nuttier. The car grew wings, caught fire, flew to the moon. I laughed and clapped, unable to contain myself. He smiled. He isn't known for smiling. I wish we had a hundred more like him.
Sam Smith is an editor at large for R&T. His second greatest-hits album is forthcoming.
quote2015 Reasons to be cheerful If you’re lucky you might just catch Kimi Raikkonen breaking into a smile this spring. After the annus horribilis, of his 2014 season, all signs point to a dramatic upswing in performance as the new campaign gets under way. But is he happy? Judge for yourself in this rare and exclusive interview with the Iceman…
A raw Barcelona test day. It’s dark in the pitlane, thanks to the shadow of that huge, looming grandstand opposite. And after lunch, the distant winter sun unleashes only a few hours of weak warmth, before fading away once again to be replaced by a cool wind whipping between the paddock trucks.
Testing involves long days. Short runs, interruptions, long runs, drizzle, red flags, sunshine and a soundtrack of cars hurtling around that spectacularly re-purposed industrial estate on a Montmelo hillside, 20 miles away from Barcelona proper, for lap after lap after lap.
Today is the first day of the final pre-season Barcelona test (T3 in F1-speak) and F1 Racing is sitting at one of the freshly laid tables in Ferrari’s testing motorhome/feeding-station, as the day’s running draws to a close.
Track temperatures have failed to creep beyond 12°C, and the air temperature offers no more comfort. Kimi Raikkonen has just completed 80 laps at the wheel of the Ferrari SF15-T, but it’s been a frustrating day for his team. Technical director James Allison is blaming “annoying reliability problems”.
Just before our early evening appointment with Kimi, he spoke briefly to a small huddle of TV media. Typically, he gave nothing away, in response to the usual line of questioning: Where are you in relation to the Mercedes? Is the headline lap time a genuine reflection of pace? How will you perform in Australia?
He has heard it all before and retreats wearily to the sanctuary of the Ferrari paddock villa, keeping his shades on despite the fading light; not breaking his stride even for a moment.
Calls for autographs and selfies from fans in the paddock are ignored. Has any other driver spent less time engaging with their followers? Maybe that’s why they love him so: ever the enigma, to friend and foe.
Still, we’re encouraged by the upbeat mood back at camp. Could today be the day we manage to coax a smile from the famously frosty Iceman?
In comparison to last year, the mood inside the Scuderia has lifted. There have been seismic personnel changes across the organisation, most notable of which were Sebastian Vettel’s replacement of the departing Fernando Alonso, and the arrival of a new team boss, the charismatic ex-Philip Morris (Marlboro) man, Maurizio Arrivabene. After an eight-month stint at the top, Marco Mattiacci was dethroned at the end of last year by Arrivabene, who was appointed managing director of the Gestione Sportiva and team principal of Ferrari by the CEO of the Fiat Group, Sergio Marchionne.
Arrivabene has a background in marketing, and was vice-president of Marlboro’s global communications operations back in 2007.
Since 2010, he has sat on the F1 Commission representing the sport’s sponsors. In his short time at the helm of Ferrari he has already ruffled feathers among F1’s rule makers. First, in early February, he provoked debate by releasing a concept illustration of a dramatically restyled Ferrari F1 car, and, second, at this very test, he chose to sit among the fans in the grandstands to protest against restrictions on teams’ paddock-pass allocations.
Arrivabene has not been shy in communicating his thoughts to the wider world either. He’s commented on the lifting of spirits within the Ferrari camp and has revealed that Kimi has been acting most, well… oddly. In a departure from his usual stiff demeanour, the Iceman has seemingly thawed and was even discovered by his new boss lying on the floor of the Ferrari garage.
“Maybe I was sleeping…” jokes Kimi in his usual laconic drawl, when we ask about the moment. But the truth is more innocent, as he reveals he was schooled as a mechanic when he was young and was curious to watch some more detailed fettling of the SF15-T.
READ THE FULL ARTICLE IN THE APRIL 2015 ISSUE Next issue out on: April 23, 2015.
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Wed Mar 25, 2015 2:10 pm
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from her post today she still seems to be in Switzerland. And I thought they were in Finland last weekend but not sure anymore, it's not clear from her writing. 
Happy Birthday WHATEVER!
