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?

 

[Incubus]

You're contradicting yourself then. Autosport is an english site. Unless you're suggesting that they "like" him but don't rate him?

 

[Sakari]

You're contradicting yourself then. Autosport is an english site. Unless you're suggesting that they "like" him but don't rate him?

Perhaps so. Would not be the first or the last time. Never read it. For me this and BBC are the only sources in England I use for F1.

 

[Incubus]

On behalf of everyone one here at CTA I'd like to say we feel honoured.

 

[RasputinLives]

Would the lack of Kimi posts on here have anything to do with his lack of good results and not being in the sport at the time the drivers threads started?

 

[RasputinLives]

Plus there are 6 drivers with more posts on their threads - 4 of them have been world champions more recently than Kimi, one was last years championship runner up and this years title contender, and the last one is Pastor Maldonado who seems to have a post for every crash he's had.

 

[Sakari]

Bump

 

[Il_leone]

Looks like I managed to remind everyone there was a Kimi thread ... he was half way down page 2 of the drivers threads but then in typical Kimi fashion - he probably would not care anyway.

I am not sure if he has ever been called a mercenary but the money he's earned is based on his status as a truly world class driver. Unfortunately he has not consistently lived up to that status and you have to say he has under achieved with the abilities he possesses

 

[siffert_fan]

IMO if the McLaren had been reliable during his sojourn there, Kimi would have been a multiple WDC, as he was undeniably the gold standard for pure speed then. So you could also say that McLaren also under achieved.

 

[Il_leone]

siffert_fan I agree Mclaren and Mercedes messed up with their dithering over the never raced MP4-19 which was fast but apparently failed crash test in 2003 sticking with Mp4-18D which was 2002 car. Then they overcompensated with Mp4-20 being out early but the car could not stay together. They had another underachieving season in 2005 where the engine kept failing and Montoya kept making amateurish errors and was not much help

Having said that 2007 title even though he was the form driver it owed a lot to Mclaren self imploding which were followed by 2008-2009 average seasons

 

[Il_leone]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/formula1/33370771 Not the Iceman we're lead to believe

 

[Il_leone]

Does anyone remember Raikkonen 's record in wet weather wins because I get the impression he is not very good in the wet or making the decisions under changeable conditions judging by

Malaysia 2009 - apparently it was Schumacher on the pit wall who called for the team to fit him with wets when the track was still dry and as soon as he put them on his race was destroyed soldiering around 30 seconds plus on the wrong tyre

Silverstone 2008 - pressurising Hamilton for the lead somehow when they both came to pit he was on the wrong wet tyre and was off 30 seconds back after 1 lap and lost the race


China 2007 - I know he won the race but it owed more to Mclaren and particularly Ron Dennis's ego wanting to stick it to Max and Ferrari

Silverstone 2015 - It was a gamble but surely he could tell whether he was comfortable with conditions or not to make it himself with his experience

 

[Sakari]

Does anyone remember Raikkonen 's record in wet weather wins because I get the impression he is not very good in the wet or making the decisions under changeable conditions judging by

Malaysia 2009 - apparently it was Schumacher on the pit wall who called for the team to fit him with wets when the track was still dry and as soon as he put them on his race was destroyed soldiering around 30 seconds plus on the wrong tyre

Silverstone 2008 - pressurising Hamilton for the lead somehow when they both came to pit he was on the wrong wet tyre and was off 30 seconds back after 1 lap and lost the race


China 2007 - I know he won the race but it owed more to Mclaren and particularly Ron Dennis's ego wanting to stick it to Max and Ferrari

Silverstone 2015 - It was a gamble but surely he could tell whether he was comfortable with conditions or not to make it himself with his experience

As a Kimi fan I've always thought he's a bit shit in the wet and 15 years of following him have taught me that he really is.

 

[Bill Boddy]

It was not his fault that the rain didn't arrive until he had been on the inters in the dry so long that they were knackered.

 

[Incubus]

Quite right. And Alonso also pitted for inters on the same lap. Although he stayed out on them till the end because he was until a few laps from the end half-a-minute ahead of Ericsson.

 

[Brogan]

It was not his fault...

Kimi Raikkonen made wrong call to pit early for inters, say Ferrari

 

[cider_and_toast]

If I remember correctly, I think Bottas was calling for Inters at roughly the same time as Raikkonen which would be some what ironic given the speculation about who he may be replacing.

 

[Sakari]

To be frank.. I think Kimi has seen his best days. Maybe it would be time for Ferrari to hire some new champion talent whomever that might be. Hulks perhaps?

 

[Il_leone]

It has dawn to me that Kimi is not very good under changeable conditions given there have been 3 races where I now remember not taking the initiative with the tyres and made to look really amateurish because of it

I can only think Jacques Villeneuve comes to mind when I think of top drivers who look really awful in the wet and maybe Hakkinen

 

[soccerman17]

Missed by the cameras:

There's some onboards on Vettel doing some masterful wet weather driving on slicks floating around the internet too. Complete opposite ends of the spectrum Sunday, and I think part of a larger trend with the two.

 

[Dash Racing]

Wow, that'll wake you up and have you paying attention. I bet he wasn't so icy in the middle of all that.