Kimi Raikkonen - all time great or wasted talent?
My last post was about a great driver; Jim Clark. Where would you place Kimi Raikkonen in the great scheme of things?
Reluctant athlete: Kimi Raikkonen
On Sunday after the race I shared a wee dram at Frankfurt Airport with Nigel Roebuck, arguably the preeminent writer about Formula One in the English language. We were talking about Fernando Alonso.
Nigel contended that Alonso is probably the most accomplished driver in F1 today. I am a big fan. I enjoyed an exclusive interview with Fernando at Silverstone, which will appear shortly in the Telegraph and on this website. Nigel and I agreed that Alonso allowed the Lewis Hamilton factor to affect his judgment last year. He responded unwisely to a situation that could have been better controlled.
Any discussion about great driving must embrace Raikkonen. On his day Nigel thought Raikkonen a genius. I have always admired his outright speed, car control, pure, instinctive courage behind the wheel. I also like his equanimity. Win or lose he never gets overly excited. After his first win in Formula One, at the 2003 Malaysian Grand Prix, he remarked that the experience would not change his life. It didn't. That is part of Raikkonen's charm. It might also be his problem.
Raikkonen seems to me to be a reluctant athlete. He is fit for purpose but probably not the first through the door every morning for the aerobics class. His trainer Mark Arnall maintains that his boy is always in shape. My point is this: there can never be a time during a career that a professional sportsman is out of shape. You can't be a racing driver at the weekend and a party animal during the week. That might be an over exaggeration in Kimi's case. However the talk in the paddock is of Kimi being on the toot more often than is good for him.
He was totally out of sorts at Hockenheim. I was pleased to hear from a Finnish colleague that Kimi was really smarting for 30 minutes after qualifying. That is a good sign. It shows he was hurting, that he cares. The question is does he care enough to keep coming back for more? An hour after posting the sixth fastest time in Q3, Kimi was cool again.
The whereabouts of Alonso in 2010 is the subject of much debate. They have stopped taking bets on Ferrari as his destination. The talk all weekend was of Raikkonen calling it a day when his contract expires at the end of 2009 at the ridiculously early age of 29. There are some speculating that he could chuck it in at the end of this year.
You could argue that we have seen the best of Raikkonen. Indeed, you might go further and claim that his best years were at McLaren and that he won the world title on the down slope of his career. I hope it doesn't turn out that way. A talent like his is worthy of multiple drivers championships.
Reluctant athlete: Kimi RaikkonenOn Sunday after the race I shared a wee dram at Frankfurt Airport with Nigel Roebuck, arguably the preeminent writer about Formula One in the English language. We were talking about Fernando Alonso.
Nigel contended that Alonso is probably the most accomplished driver in F1 today. I am a big fan. I enjoyed an exclusive interview with Fernando at Silverstone, which will appear shortly in the Telegraph and on this website. Nigel and I agreed that Alonso allowed the Lewis Hamilton factor to affect his judgment last year. He responded unwisely to a situation that could have been better controlled.
Any discussion about great driving must embrace Raikkonen. On his day Nigel thought Raikkonen a genius. I have always admired his outright speed, car control, pure, instinctive courage behind the wheel. I also like his equanimity. Win or lose he never gets overly excited. After his first win in Formula One, at the 2003 Malaysian Grand Prix, he remarked that the experience would not change his life. It didn't. That is part of Raikkonen's charm. It might also be his problem.
Raikkonen seems to me to be a reluctant athlete. He is fit for purpose but probably not the first through the door every morning for the aerobics class. His trainer Mark Arnall maintains that his boy is always in shape. My point is this: there can never be a time during a career that a professional sportsman is out of shape. You can't be a racing driver at the weekend and a party animal during the week. That might be an over exaggeration in Kimi's case. However the talk in the paddock is of Kimi being on the toot more often than is good for him.
He was totally out of sorts at Hockenheim. I was pleased to hear from a Finnish colleague that Kimi was really smarting for 30 minutes after qualifying. That is a good sign. It shows he was hurting, that he cares. The question is does he care enough to keep coming back for more? An hour after posting the sixth fastest time in Q3, Kimi was cool again.
The whereabouts of Alonso in 2010 is the subject of much debate. They have stopped taking bets on Ferrari as his destination. The talk all weekend was of Raikkonen calling it a day when his contract expires at the end of 2009 at the ridiculously early age of 29. There are some speculating that he could chuck it in at the end of this year.
You could argue that we have seen the best of Raikkonen. Indeed, you might go further and claim that his best years were at McLaren and that he won the world title on the down slope of his career. I hope it doesn't turn out that way. A talent like his is worthy of multiple drivers championships.
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