Posts
1:53 AM
Kimi Raikkonen, until Sunday one of sport’s great nearly men, lived up to his nickname the ‘Ice Man’ on the Interlagos circuit as he snatched his first Formula One world championship title.
The 28-year-old Finn is famous for his surly nature and monotone responses to media questioning. But his legendary coolness under pressure stood him in good stead in the final race of the season as he snatched the world title by just one point with his 15th career victory.
Away from the media spotlight however, Raikkonen reveals a different side to his personality. To say he enjoys a glass of vodka may be understating things more than slightly and he has a deceptively dry sense of humour.
On the track he is known as one of the very quickest natural drivers, fearless and fearsome in the way he puts together rapid lap times. Born in Espoo, Finland on October 17, 1979, Kimi-Matias Raikkonen began go-karting at 11 years of age and enjoyed a successful junior career.
He then entered the British Formula Renault series in 1999 and secured the championship the next season, winning seven of the ten races. This performance impressed Formula One team boss Peter Sauber enough to earn the young Finn a crack at the big-time.
Sauber wanted Raikkonen for his Formula One team in the 2001 season and had to plead with FIA president Max Mosley to give Raikkonen the superlicence needed to compete in Formula One but eventually, after much debate, the licence was awarded.
Finn replaces finn
Raikkonen scored a point on his debut in Melbourne and managed to amass nine points that year in a struggling Sauber car. His performances brought him to the attention of McLaren boss Ron Dennis who was looking for a replacement for another Finnish driver Mika Hakkinen.
After reportedly shying away from an opportunity with Ferrari, Raikkonen slipped into Hakkinen’s seat for the 2002 season and finished a respectable sixth in a McLaren car that suffered regular reliability problems. The next season Raikkonen claimed his first Grand Prix victory in Malaysia and narrowly missed out on the world championship — finishing just two points behind Michael Schumacher.
While 2004 was a season to forget, 2005 was another heartbreaking near miss as Raikkonen once again finished runner-up in the championship. This time it was Renault’s Fernando Alonso who took the title despite Raikkonen winning seven races that year.
After a poor 2006 season Raikkonen’s relationship with Dennis broke down and he made the switch to Ferrari, replacing Schumacher at the Italian team. He was quickly installed as the bookmakers championship favourite but there were question marks as to whether his laid back approach, a huge change from Schumacher’s total dedication, might cause problems at Ferrari.
Barren spell
After winning the opener in Australia Raikkonen suffered a barren spell before coming back strongly towards the end of the season, winning six races during the campaign. He was 26 points behind Lewis Hamilton at the midway point of the season but came back to snatch glory in the final race.
No change in life
When he raced to victory in Sunday at Interlagos, he became the first driver to win the title on a first season at Ferrari since the great Juan Manuel Fangio and the third Finnish world champion after Keke Rosberg and Hakkinen. “It’s not going to change my life too much,” he told the news conference in his trademark monosyllabic tone.
“People will probably try to make up more stories about me but I’m not going to change myself.” That also means that the Finn, whose love of partying is well-documented, was not going to stay away from the good life. “For sure, we are going to have a big party, not just here but next week...it’s been a long season and it’s hard to realise that we finally did it after many years.
Asked whether he felt beating McLaren’s 22-year-old rookie Lewis Hamilton and double champion Fernando Alonso to the title was a sort of justice, Raikkonen hesitated but finally answered. “I think so, maybe yes.”
Source: mumbaimirror.com
The 28-year-old Finn is famous for his surly nature and monotone responses to media questioning. But his legendary coolness under pressure stood him in good stead in the final race of the season as he snatched the world title by just one point with his 15th career victory.
Away from the media spotlight however, Raikkonen reveals a different side to his personality. To say he enjoys a glass of vodka may be understating things more than slightly and he has a deceptively dry sense of humour.
On the track he is known as one of the very quickest natural drivers, fearless and fearsome in the way he puts together rapid lap times. Born in Espoo, Finland on October 17, 1979, Kimi-Matias Raikkonen began go-karting at 11 years of age and enjoyed a successful junior career.
He then entered the British Formula Renault series in 1999 and secured the championship the next season, winning seven of the ten races. This performance impressed Formula One team boss Peter Sauber enough to earn the young Finn a crack at the big-time.
Sauber wanted Raikkonen for his Formula One team in the 2001 season and had to plead with FIA president Max Mosley to give Raikkonen the superlicence needed to compete in Formula One but eventually, after much debate, the licence was awarded.
Finn replaces finn
Raikkonen scored a point on his debut in Melbourne and managed to amass nine points that year in a struggling Sauber car. His performances brought him to the attention of McLaren boss Ron Dennis who was looking for a replacement for another Finnish driver Mika Hakkinen.
After reportedly shying away from an opportunity with Ferrari, Raikkonen slipped into Hakkinen’s seat for the 2002 season and finished a respectable sixth in a McLaren car that suffered regular reliability problems. The next season Raikkonen claimed his first Grand Prix victory in Malaysia and narrowly missed out on the world championship — finishing just two points behind Michael Schumacher.
While 2004 was a season to forget, 2005 was another heartbreaking near miss as Raikkonen once again finished runner-up in the championship. This time it was Renault’s Fernando Alonso who took the title despite Raikkonen winning seven races that year.
After a poor 2006 season Raikkonen’s relationship with Dennis broke down and he made the switch to Ferrari, replacing Schumacher at the Italian team. He was quickly installed as the bookmakers championship favourite but there were question marks as to whether his laid back approach, a huge change from Schumacher’s total dedication, might cause problems at Ferrari.
Barren spell
After winning the opener in Australia Raikkonen suffered a barren spell before coming back strongly towards the end of the season, winning six races during the campaign. He was 26 points behind Lewis Hamilton at the midway point of the season but came back to snatch glory in the final race.
No change in life
When he raced to victory in Sunday at Interlagos, he became the first driver to win the title on a first season at Ferrari since the great Juan Manuel Fangio and the third Finnish world champion after Keke Rosberg and Hakkinen. “It’s not going to change my life too much,” he told the news conference in his trademark monosyllabic tone.
“People will probably try to make up more stories about me but I’m not going to change myself.” That also means that the Finn, whose love of partying is well-documented, was not going to stay away from the good life. “For sure, we are going to have a big party, not just here but next week...it’s been a long season and it’s hard to realise that we finally did it after many years.
Asked whether he felt beating McLaren’s 22-year-old rookie Lewis Hamilton and double champion Fernando Alonso to the title was a sort of justice, Raikkonen hesitated but finally answered. “I think so, maybe yes.”
Source: mumbaimirror.com
0 comments:
Post a Comment