Kimi Räikkönen

Probably one of the coolest drivers ever to grace F1 alongside James Hunt.

His part life-style may not have been to some teams liking in F1 but you can't deny that Kimi was probably one of the best drivers on the grid from 2003-09. He should have won more championships than he did!

Kimi won his one and only F1 Championship in 2007. Kimi won 18 races, 16 pole positions, scored 62 podiums and claimed 35 fastest laps in his time in F1.

Kimi is probably the must unluckiest driver to ever grace F1 and the amount of retirements he had no fault of his own were lots.

Kimi won his first GP in 2003 winning the Malaysian GP and he claimed his last victory in F1 at the 2009 Belguim GP.

Kimi started his F1 career in 2001 driving for Sauber, he then went on to drive for Mclaren and Ferrari before quitting the sport in 2009.

Kimi produced probably the 2 most funniest moments to happen in F1 over the last 10 years, when he said at the Brazilian GP in 2006 when Schumi first retired from F1 and the other one at the Malaysian GP where the race was red flagged and he went to the garage and got into shorts, t-shirt and flip-flops and started eating ice-cream.

Whether you liked him or not you can't deny his talent, he produced one of the comebacks of the past 10 season by starting near the back of the Japan GP in 2005 and went on to win it! Probably one of his best race wins in F1.

Did you like Kimi or Not?

 

[Titch]

Well there is that of course.

 

[Tuscan1969]

Sacking Kimi would not make the current Ferrari regime look stupid ; it could be seen as a bold and decisive move to correct ANOTHER of the mistakes of the previous Ferrari management..... New Broom and all that.

However they will all look extremely stupid if Kimi stays and pastes Seb next year ; just imagine what Alonso would have done would be the cry... So I'd suggest sacking Kimi is a sensible move on those grounds alone. (I don't expect Kimi to paste Seb but then no-one expected the Spanish Inquisition!)

NB if they do ditch Kimi and get someone else who does a DR on Seb then they only look clever having signed someone who can compete with and beat Seb.

 

[Mephistopheles]

he has a bit of a hurty back

Have ever had a hurty back? because if not let me tell you it ****ing hurts.....

 

[FB]

I have no doubt, the point I was making is that other F1 drivers have driven through significant pain and still performed well.

 

[Mephistopheles]

And my point is that his back could not have been that bad or he would not have been able to get out of bed as I know to my cost.

So really I was agreeing with you, soz if that did not come across...

 

[Il_leone]

RasputinLives It was a stupid decision the first time to pay him $50m first time round a year when he has not even won the drivers title then

It is a stupid decision to keep him now because he is too expensive to pay off even though he is not trying as hard

 

[Il_leone]

FB
Mephistopheles NIgel Mansell use to race with a broken back , broken ankle and even fighting burns and he would still carry on

Its more to do with Kimi's demeanour in bad situations which annoys people where he seems he does not care or at least come out and rally the troops

 

[Mephistopheles]

Sorry I'm not buying that about Mansell he was the biggest hypochondriac F1 has ever seen..

 

[FB]

In Formula Ford Nigel broke his neck, was told he would never race again, discharged himself from hospital and was back in a car a few weeks later. Kudos to him.

 

[Mephistopheles]

When you say "Broke his neck." What exactly do you mean? After all there are broken necks and broken necks, when I was 14 some kid gave me a back breaker (That's is he came up behind me shoved his knee into the base of my spine grabbed my shoulders and pulled me backwards over his knee.) which actually broke my back but I didn't find out until I was 19 years old when I eventually had an X ray due to on going back problems..

 

[FB]

Nigel was told he was lucky not to be a quadriplegic and needed to spend 6 months in hospital recovering. He finished the Formula Ford season that year.

Anyway, we are drifting well off topic here.

 

[Mephistopheles]

I agree, I count myself lucky not to have been paralyzed as well..

 

[Il_leone]

Surprise this forum has not been inundated recently seeing Kimi has had some woeful races or disappointing at least that he apparently is being dropped according to the rumour mill and his seat is the most coveted one at the moment in F1

 

[Lewywo4]

If Kimi is dropped by the Scuderia. I can't see how Hulkenberg wouldn't be considered to be his replacement rather than Guitierrez, even with his Ferrari affiliation.

 

[Bill Boddy]

.... his seat is the most coveted one at the moment in F1

Really? Are Mercedes leaving then?

 

[Il_leone]

Bill Boddy Well the one that is likely to become available then

 

[siffert_fan]

http://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/vettel-i-want-raikkonen-to-stay-at-ferrari/

We'll see how much weight this carries.

 

[Il_leone]

well that is interesting as it looks like Seb realises his future teammate could give him more trouble if its not Kimi

 

[soccerman17]

Or maybe he just likes the guy. They seem to be getting along quite well off the track.

 

[Grizzly]

Vettel will surely defend Raikkonen, if only to defend his own position, it suites him, just as Alonso would never criticise Massa when they were team mates. Ferrari have a particular fondness for Ricciardo and we don't need reminding what happened when they were in the same car.