Tough starts, winning the title, a break from F1 and much more: This is Kimi Räikkönen and his fascinating story!

If you’re looking for a so-called man of action, you’ve come to the right place. But that’s not the only thing that makes Kimi Räikkönen such an extraordinary personality. In this article, we take a look at his rich career and also recall the Finnish racer’s approach to life as a Formula 1 driver. The story of the Iceman is a fascinating one.

He didn’t start talking until he was three, but Kimi didn’t seem to need to. Räikkönen simply lets his actions and achievements speak for him, which, incidentally, is how many women know a man when he is a man.

The Finnish pilot is a very focused man who must not be disturbed at work! If you want to work with him, this is something you must definitely keep in mind.

Kimi is undoubtedly a racer of the old generation who was interested in cars. After all, his father was a rally driver and rally mechanic. And it was his father who always let Kimi and his brother Rami get their hands dirty with oil, explaining that it was necessary. Did this bring the now seasoned racer back a little closer to racing and motorsport as a whole? Undoubtedly yes!

Kimi’s beginnings

His journey began, like that of many other world-class racers, with karting. However, for guys from the Nordic countries, entering the world of motorsport is never easy, due to the fact that weather conditions and frequent darkness make it impossible to drive more than 3 months a year in Finland, for example.

In this respect, racers from the southern part of Europe have a big advantage, where the conditions are ideal for racing and thanks to the light they can race almost all year round in Spain, for example. What’s more, the Räikkönen family’s financial situation has not been dazzling, which is why Kimi’s journey to success has been so respectable and, for his fans, very moving.

According to the book, The Unknown Kimi Räikkönen, his parents put all their efforts and money into the career of the now forty-two-year-old Finn. In the book, Kimi’s mother briefly describes how they had to go into debt every year to race and then pay off all the loans in the winter.

It is in this book that the Räikkönen family describes how much kart racing can actually cost. In the main category, they say, the financial costs can run up to several thousand euros, and a kart racing weekend in Europe can cost as much as five to fifteen thousand euros!

And if you want to drive for a factory team, you have to raise at least 150,000 euros. Needless to say, sponsors are hard to come by in motorsport, even without any connections.

In an interview a long time ago, Räikkönen admitted that after years of his Formula 1 career, he was aware of how hard his parents had to work and how much they had to sacrifice to get things right.

Although Kimi showed his speed and exceptional talent from an early age, it was very difficult for the young boy from Espoo, Finland, at the time, and not just because of the financial side of things.

A boy suffering from dyslexia, who even failed in the fifth grade of primary school. He couldn’t concentrate and reading in particular was never Kimi’s favourite activity – he found solace and escape from reality in racing. By getting into a go-kart and putting a helmet on his head, he entered a completely different world.

A world where not a single mistake is forgiven. A world in which one must react to all sorts of situations in a fraction of a second and where one must demonstrate exceptional skills – the world of motorsport.

Racing in Europe

Kimi’s main difference has always been his age – he has always raced against drivers four or five years older than him. And yet he was still able to set the fastest times, which he proved at the races in Europe, where Räikkönen met Sami Visa and Riki Kuwaja.

The latter was Räikkönen’s manager from 2005 to 2015, after which Sami Visa took over. In those days, however, it was still the dealers who needed help with engine maintenance and tuning. What happened next was absolutely crucial for Kimi’s future.

At that time, Rami was Kimi’s mechanic, and he also did some maintenance on businessmen’s cars. These people in turn were able to get the now former McLaren, Ferrari and Lotus driver solid sponsors who were able to provide better machines and more tyres.

The decisive help then came from relatives, when Jussi Rapala, the husband of Paula’s sister Valpuri (Paula – Kimi Räikkönen’s mother – ed.) came from a famous family and with his finances opened the aforementioned path to Europe for Kimi.

However, his first international race (Monaco Cup) turned out as nobody expected – on the last lap he drove into a tonne of water-soaked straw, which ended his European debut.

Absolutely pivotal to Kimi’s future F1 career was meeting the Robertson managers. They learned about the then still very young and talented Finn through information given to them by Peter Collins (a very influential man in the karting world).

First Contract & Haywood Racing

David Robertson not only offered Kimi a 12-year contract at an annual salary of 120,000 marks, but also arranged for Räikkönen to test with the Haywood Racing team, and in a matter of days the youngster from the Karhusuo district achieved results equal to or better than those of their own drivers.

The season, however, did not produce very dazzling results, with Kimi actually completing just four races. However, it was not so much the poor performance of the driver that was to blame, but the very difficult handling and poor performance of the Haywood Racing car.

In any case, in 1999 Räikkönen finished second in the European Formula Super A championship, and he also raced in the Formula Ford Euro Cup series at the same time. However, despite the setback at Haywood Racing, Dave Robertson, who was also Jenson Button’s protégé, secured him an appointment with the Manor team in the Formula Renault Winter Series.

With a faster and more powerful car, Räikkönen dominated the first four races and eventually won the entire winter season. It was then that Dave and Steve Robertson realised they had signed an exceptional talent. In 2000, Kimi went on to win seven of the ten races in the British Formula Renault Championship.

Sauber F1 Team

Unprecedented talent, speed or an impressive will and a desire to work on himself constantly – these are the aspects that may be responsible for the news coming from David Robertson in the summer of 2000 that Räikkönen would be testing for the Sauber F1 Team in September of that year.

And it was the tests at Mugello that worked out superbly for the Finnish driver, with Räikkönen showing the then owner Peter Sauber his qualities, and also that he was to be the driver to replace Mika Salo, who was leaving for Toyota at the time.

Kimi’s test driving was so great that his style showed the race engineers new braking points and the right angles to corners. It should be noted, the Sauber C19 didn’t even have power steering at the time.

Although Räikkönen had his contract almost in the bag, there was one other aspect he was worried about. Kimi didn’t have a superlicence, which, in short, an F1 driver must have. In addition, the former head of the FIA, Max Mosley, was at the time against granting the young driver a licence. Fortunately, Mosley was the only person who had a problem with the superlicence.

So there was nothing standing in Kimi’s way. 500,000 dollars for the first year + another 50,000 for every point scored – these were terms that Räikkönen could only dream of in his career so far.

The first race of his Formula 1 career was on 4 March 2001 at the Australian Grand Prix. And in his first appearance in the queen of motorsport, he finished sixth. In the same season, he took two more fourth places, which opened the door for his next engagement. In the final standings of the 2001 season, he finished tenth.

Transfer to McLaren

Kimi got something that not everyone in motorsport gets. A chance and a fast car. Ron Dennis, the boss of McLaren, had already noticed his performance during his time at Sauber. In fact, the British team from Woking bought Räikkönen while he was still with Sauber, and the price for his services was certainly not small – McLaren got the Swiss team new trucks and an expensive wind tunnel.

It should be added, it was Ron Dennis and McLaren who coined a nickname for Räikkönen that stuck with him for the rest of his career – Iceman. As the aforementioned book says, the nickname is meant to encapsulate Räikkönen’s identity – ” you come in from the cold, you drive fast, you talk little, you explain nothing, you do your job as best you can, and you head to the next race.”

The first race of the 2002 season in McLaren colours went very well for Kimi – he crossed the line third in the standings and set the fastest lap of the race. However, in the second race of the season, something happened that would follow him throughout his time at McLaren, and which would mean he would never win a title in the British team’s colours – an engine failure.

In the 2002-2006 seasons, Kimi’s engine failed twelve times, a number that will significantly affect the fight for the overall championship. He finished sixth in the Drivers’ Championship in 2002.

He came very close to the championship title in two editions, but both times he fell just short of the top. In 2003, he lost just two points to then World Champion Michael Schumacher. Kimi then missed out by twenty-two points two years later, when Fernando Alonso drove to the outright title in a Renault.

Räikkönen ended 2004 in seventh place overall, and finished fifth in the final drivers’ standings of the 2006 Formula One World Championship. However, even as Kimi was circling his final season at McLaren, he was already in contact with Ferrari team officials.

A Ferrari engagement, a championship title

The proof is in the signing of the preliminary contract. The situation at the time can be interpreted as Ferrari giving Räikkönen a sum of around 4 million, and only for not transferring to another team. At the time, the Italian stable was playing it safe – the legendary Schumacher was considering the end of his career, so they wanted to have a good driver under contract – just in case Schumacher did indeed retire.

And they were right to do so, because it was the Finnish racer who brought the joy of winning the drivers’ title back to Maranello (Schumacher won the 2004 championship, but the 2005 and 2006 editions belonged to Alonso in a Renault).

However, the final result was not decided until the last race of the season, which Räikkönen did not enter as favourite. Before the final round of 2007, he was third in the drivers’ championship with 100 points. Alonso had three more points, with Lewis Hamilton leading the championship with 107 points.

Brazil, Interlagos, 9pm. The Formula One world championship is on the line. Hamilton only needed to finish fifth, while Kimi had to put in a very good performance. And he did, Kimi Räikkönen crossed the line as the winner a second and a half ahead of teammate Felipe Massa – double Ferrari.

The seconds that followed must have felt like hours to Kimi. Where’s Alonso? Third Kimi, third Alonso! And Hamilton? Seventh! McLaren’s subsequent protests to the FIA over suspected supercooled fuel in the cars of Rosberg, Kubica and Heidfeld didn’t help either. Kimi Räikkönen becomes world champion!

The now forty-two-year-old Finn will finish the next two years in third and sixth place. In the end, Kimi did not keep his contract with the Italian team. Ferrari has announced that Fernando Alonso, the 2005 and 2006 World Champion, will take over his seat. Under the contract, however, Ferrari had to pay Räikkönen a severance package.

It was to amount to seventeen million euros in case he completely leaves the world of Formula 1. However, if he joined another team, the severance payment would be reduced by seven million. There was speculation at the time that he would return to McLaren, which never happened. Räikkönen took a two-year break from the queen of motorsport, whereupon the British stable didn’t even have to be sorry. McLaren has since 2010 been reinforced by 2009 world champion Jenson Button.

A break from F1

So in December 2009, it was officially confirmed that Räikkönen would leave the world of Formula 1 and head to the WRC, signing a contract with the Citroën Junior Team. He then finished the 2010 season in tenth place with twenty-six points.

He entered the 2011 season with his own team, Ice 1 Racing, but only repeated his 2010 finish.

Contract with Lotus, return to Ferrari

Räikkönen returned to Formula 1 in 2012, with Lotus vying for his services. And it should be noted that it was quite a successful season – Kimi won the eighteenth race of the season, scored six podium finishes and thus finished the 2012 season in third place in the final standings.

A year later, however, he would finish fifth, whereupon he would once again don the Ferrari overalls for the 2014 season. He would spend the next five years of his career in the Italian stable, but he is too lost to speak again in the title fight. Twelfth, fourth, sixth, fourth and third – that’s Kimi’s record from 2014 to 2018.

It should be noted, from a spectator point of view, the 2017 season was the most attractive of the five-year period, with Sebastian Vettel leading the championship after the halfway point. But even he couldn’t break Mercedes’ unambiguous and dominant era, during which virtually no one had the chops to challenge Lewis Hamilton.

Except for Nick Rosberg in 2016, when he won the championship title, and by a margin of just five points.

End of career

Räikkönen finally ended his active career at the end of the 2021 season, after three years with Alfa Romeo Racing. Thus, at the end of his career, Kimi had amassed 57 points, and in addition to his twelfth place finish in 2019, he finished sixteenth twice in 2020 and 2021. The 2020 season was then the worst in terms of results of his entire career, when he scored just four points.

Kimi Räikkönen was a driver of the old generation, and it is safe to assume that if he had raced in the earlier days when Formula 1 was not yet such a commercial sport, he might have achieved more titles. But as the old saying goes, the word “if” certainly doesn’t belong in sport.

During his career, Räikkönen has won the hearts of many fans. He will be missed by Formula 1 for many reasons – Kimi could say more in one sentence at press conferences than everyone else could in the entire duration of such a conference. He didn’t like celebrity visits.

In an interview, Kimi admitted that it was the press conferences that bored him the most at the race weekend. In his opinion, there was simply nothing to ask and if the journalists copied the drivers’ answers, everyone would have more peace of mind.

It could also be said that Räikkönen was a straightforward man who told things as he saw them. He didn’t like to bring politics and commercial matters into his world of racing. For example, when asked by journalists about his involvement with Ferrari, Kimi replied that he had come here not to learn Italian, but to race. And he made a number of such statements.

349 starts, one championship title, 21 victories, 103 podiums, 18 pole positions, 46 fastest laps and 1,873 points – that’s Kimi Räikkönen’s record over an impressive 19-year career as a Formula One driver.

The queen of motorsport will thus bid farewell to a very distinctive figure at the end of 2021. A figure who has left a significant mark not only in the world of F1, but in motorsport as a whole. The Finnish legend has brought to a close a huge era. The story of a great man is coming to an end. The story of the Iceman.

F1, Auto Motor und Sport, Unknown Kimi Räikkönen, Alfa Romeo Racing Orlen