On the side of Kimi Räikkönen's helmet is inscribed the word "Iceman".
The Formula 1 world champion, who broke Lewis Hamilton's heart by pipping him at the death by a single point at last October's Brazilian Grand Prix, is known for his ice-cool attitude to most things in life.
"I wouldn't be honest if I didn't admit to being a quick guy in a car," he deadpans.
"I'm not that patient in traffic. Yes, I have been fined. Sometimes the limits are very strict for the road conditions.
"Luckily, I've never had a crash in a road car, although I've had a few in Formula 1.
"I'd better not say the fastest speed I've ever driven on a road, but it was in Germany, where there are many stretches with no speed limit... Let's just say the car could go 190mph."

The Ferrari driver has just lapped the Sakhir circuit, Bahrain, in a blistering 1min 30.595secs, more than two seconds quicker than last year's pole-position time.
When he emerged from the cockpit after the morning session there was barely a bead of sweat on his forehead, and certainly no flicker of emotion. The Finn doesn't give much away.
After a brief lunch, he takes a spin in his other Ferrari, a 612 Scaglietti, but he's not looking for lap records this time.
Instead, he finds a suitable spot on the 3.4-mile, £100 million state-of-the-art circuit, then gets out and poses on the Tarmac for these exclusive pictures.
The temperature in the pit lane is 24°C but it's hotter still out on the race track, so beneath his black top Räikkönen's dressed down in a pair of camouflage shorts and trainers.
A peaked cap shields his eyes from the fierce Middle Eastern sun.
Ferrari have got the place pretty much to themselves.
Toyota are the only other F1 team to have made the trip to this tiny island state – home to just 600,000 – while the rest of the F1 grid battle with the Spanish winter at the Circuit de Catalunya in Barcelona.
Today he seems more relaxed; he's happy to talk. Perhaps he's mellowed after achieving his childhood fantasy – not winning the world title, but owning a Ferrari.

"It was always my dream," he says.
"There aren't many Ferraris in Finland, but for me they've always symbolised speed.
"Even before I signed for the Scuderia [Ferrari F1 team] I had bought one. Now I'm lucky enough to drive any Ferrari I want, like this 612 Scaglietti, a real grand tourer."
No doubt Räikkönen gets them for free, but he could easily afford one.
The £25 million salary Ferrari offered to tear him away from McLaren for the 2007 season (filling the legendary shoes of Michael Schumacher) makes him F1's highest-paid driver. Far from feeling the pressure, though, the champ can be found sleeping as little as 20 minutes before the start of a grand prix.
Off the track, he is a completely different animal.
In Finland, he and his beautiful wife Jenni Dahlman, a former Miss Scandinavia, are the most famous couple in a country with the population of south London.
Known for his penchant for clubs and vodka, fun-loving Räikkönen enjoys snowboarding and playing ice hockey, and was once seen passed out outside a Spanish bar, clutching an inflatable dolphin.

Last March, days before the first grand prix of the season in Melbourne, he entered a powerboat race with two friends dressed in a gorilla suit under the pseudonym James Hunt, after the British F1 champion who lived life to the full and died tragically young from a heart attack.
Räikkönen, who likes to win at everything, took a prize – but only for the best-dressed crew.
Like so many sporting greats, Räikkönen comes from a humble background.
His father, Matti, drove heavy road machinery in Espoo, near Helsinki, while his mother, Paula, worked as a clerk.

Kimi and his older brother, Rami (now a rally driver), spent much of their childhood with their grandfather, who arranged their first driving lessons.
"My grandparents' house was in the same yard as ours, but ours was smaller," says Räikkönen.
"The toilet was outside, and every year my father promised my mother we would build one inside, but there was always something else to spend money on."
That something else turned out to be motor racing.
Räikkönen started on bikes before switching to karts aged ten. Immediately he started to win.
"When we started racing, our cars were basic," he says.
"We bought spare parts other people didn't want or repaired broken stuff.
"I've always loved getting my hands on an engine, whatever it is. As a kid I was a mechanic for a kart team run by a friend and even today I enjoy tuning my friends' engines.
"Two or three times back in the early days we thought we'd have to give up because we had no money."

The lack of funds explains his first car.
"It was a Lada," he admits, with a smile.
"I've had better cars since then, like my Mercedes DTM and a white Audi Q7. My daily transport at the moment is an Alfa Romeo 159 3.2 JTS [Ferrari's parent company Fiat also owns Alfa], but whenever I get home I drive my red Ferrari Enzo, even though my favourite colour for a car is black.
"To be honest, I tend to go for cars without too many gadgets. I like them sporty and kitted out with just the basics.
The young Räikkönen took to motor racing like the proverbial duck to water.
After becoming an international karting champion, he impressed in the Formula Renault UK Championships so much he was signed up by the Sauber F1 team in 2001 aged 20 – even before he had the "Super Licence" required to compete in grands prix. Räikkönen rewarded Sauber with a point on his debut at the Australian Grand Prix.

A year later, he moved to McLaren, becoming an instant title contender for the next four years. But during his time there he also had to complete his Finnish military service.
"It was a little bit difficult because I was flying back and forth to Finland all the time," he says.
"I was allowed 70 days for races – and if you did well you got a few extra."
On one occasion he was briefly jailed by the army for going AWOL, and top brass had to be persuaded to let him out to compete in a race at Donington Park. He duly won it.
Winning the world championship is only the start for the Finn, who admits he wants to try other forms of racing one day.

"I once tried out a rally car and it was great fun," he says.
"When I'm finished with F1, I'd like to compete in a real rally.
"I like to drive anything with an engine and do so as often as I can. When I'm back in Finland I love to take a snowmobile through the woods."
What is it about Finland and driving? Apart from a clutch of world rally stars, the Finns have clocked up three F1 world champions, with Räikkönen joining past champions Keke Rosberg and Mika Häkkinen.
"I think the reason why we have had so many champions is because of the driving conditions back home," he explains, gazing out over a Middle Eastern terrain far removed from Finland.
"You have to teach yourself to deal with unusual conditions right from the start. Also, it's natural that once you have great champions on the scene, the youngsters want to emulate them."
That said, these days Räikkönen spends much of his time abroad, living as a tax exile in Switzerland. Until recently he was also based in Britain – in Chigwell of all places, where he lived with his manager.
For all the talk of rally driving, the Finn is far from finished with F1, and he has every intention of keeping hold of the world title he fought so hard to obtain. He's particularly looking forward to two races at the world's most challenging circuits.

"Spa-Francorchamps in Belgium is the most beautiful on the calendar, and the most demanding from a technical point of view.
"Monaco is very special, so out of this world that it is really thrilling. Driving a race car through the city streets, with the sea on one side and palaces on the other, is always incredible."
As always, before the start of the new season, there is much speculation concerning which car is the quickest, and whether the removal of traction control will make a difference. Räikkönen thinks not.
"From a driving point of view it doesn't change much, because after a few days in testing you get used to it.
"I'd be very surprised if it isn't another big fight for the title. I expect Ferrari and McLaren to be challenging hard again, but also Renault, now that Alonso is back with them, and BMW-Sauber, who did so well last year.

"There are so many good drivers in F1 right now that plenty more are capable of getting on the podium, too.
"Last season was unforgettable for me, not only because I won the world title for the first time, but also because I was so far behind the leaders at one stage but never gave up believing."
The bad news for his rivals is that the Iceman is pleased with his new car, the F2008.
"The car has been quick and reliable, but we'll only find out where we are compared to the other teams at the Australian Grand Prix next month."

Räikkönen won it last year – thrashing the rest of the field in the process. This year he's got a new car and new rules to contend with. But it will take more than that to throw the ice-cool Finn off course.