Currently third in the drivers’ championship standings - with an impressive six podium finishes along the way - Lotus’s Kimi Raikkonen has certainly silenced the critics during his comeback Formula One season. With solid foundations now in place, the Finn is looking for more with the team in 2013…

Q: What have you learnt from your return to Formula One racing?
Kimi Raikkonen: This season has shown me that I still love racing as much as I ever did. Obviously, I would have not come back to the sport if I did not feel like this. Driving a Formula One car still gives me the same inspiration and I feel the same passion for it.

Q: Lotus is your fourth Formula One team: how have things gelled?
KR: I have been very happy with the team; how they work, how they approach the races and how they invest in developing the car. I think with the progress behind the scenes at Enstone we could be fighting for the podium even more often next year and also be able to make a stronger challenge for the championship.

Q: We, and around 500,000 other people, recently saw you signing an enforced contract on YouTube (in a promotional video for a sponsor). How civilized was the process with Lotus in comparison?
KR: Well the team did not need to tie me up and blackmail me with a photo album, unlike certain other contracts you may have seen me sign recently. That was not necessary on this occasion.

Q: How strong is your motivation heading into the last races of this year and looking ahead to 2013?
KR: My motivation is as strong as it’s always been. I’m keen to race on.

Q: How can you build on your experience from 2012 next season?
KR: We have proven as team that we can build and develop a strong and reliable car. This year has been a good platform to put down strong foundations for what will hopefully be an even better season next time around. We know what we need to do to improve in some important areas, which should help us get even better results next year. All in all I’m looking forward carrying on working with the team to achieve more good things in 2013.

Q: What have you learnt from this year?
KR: I think there were a few people who had doubts about how I would perform after being away for a while. Personally, I didn’t feel I stopped racing at all. I may have been doing something different with rallying, but after coming back to Formula One I immediately felt fit enough - and fast enough - to start racing again. My hunger for winning is exactly the same as always and I think I’ve shown that I’m capable of fighting for victories. Obviously there have been none so far this year, but we have come close a few times and for sure we’ll keep on trying for as long as it takes to start winning again.

Q: What’s the main focus for you in 2013?
KR: Of course, the main thing is to do my very best every time, every weekend, every race. I think to be able to perform better in the races I have to find more from myself and from the car in qualifying. This season has shown that you have to be on first two rows to be able to win every time. It’s important to improve our grid positions for 2013. That’s one of the main targets for me.

It’s no secret that Lotus’s Kimi Raikkonen isn’t a fan of long-winded media interviews - which is why we thought our quick-fire Inside Line format would be perfect for the Finn. And so it proved, with the 2007 world champion and 2012 Abu Dhabi winner providing brief but enlightening answers. What did we learn? For starters he loves steam, sushi and salmiak…

Q: What keeps you awake at night?
Kimi Raikkonen: Nothing keeps me awake. I have the ability to sleep well, wherever I am.

Q: If you could banish one thing from your life - for the rest of your life - what would that be?
KR: There is nothing to be banished.

Q: What’s been your most valuable life lesson?
KR: Never give up.

Q: What do you admire?
KR: Those boys from 1960s and early ‘70s in F1. Drivers made from steel in cars made of wood.

Q: If you could give your younger self some advice what would it be?
KR: Never give up.

Q: If your racing career ended this season what would you do with the rest of your life?
KR: I have some plans in my mind. I have a life outside racing as well, so it wouldn’t be the end of the world for me. (laughs)

Q: What animal best reflects your personality?
KR: My German Shepherd dog, Aksu.

Q: What is more important than winning?
KR: Health.

Q: What would you spend your last dollar on?
KR: I've got an idea, but it's a secret. (laughs)

Q: What is your biggest weakness?
KR: Candies, especially Finnish salmiak.

Q: What’s your ultimate comfort food?
KR: I'm a big friend of sushi dishes.

Q: What’s the first thing you do when you get home after a race?
KR: I've got a genuine Finnish sauna at home. It's the best place to relax and go through the race.

Q: What scares you?
KR: I'm not the type of a person who is scared of something. If something is going to happen, it's meant to be that way.

Q: What’s the best advice you have been given?
KR: Never give up.

Q: Are you the man you always thought you would become?
KR: Yes I am. My dream was always to become a world champion and that's what I have achieved.

Q: What tastes like home?
KR: Rye bread and liquorice.

Q: When were you happiest?
KR: October 21, 2007 in Sao Paulo, Brazil (after winning the world title).

Q: If you had to stay in one place for the rest of your life, where would it be?
KR: Finland.

This feels wrong. We’ve only just arrived at Färjestad – venue for the Super Special Stage that kicks off Rally Sweden – yet in a few seconds I’ll be standing next to Kimi Räikkönen, one-time F1 world champion, now full-time rally driver – the only F1 driver ever to make such a full-time switch.

We’ve sneaked in to an autograph session and moved quickly up the line by pushing past small children and bypassing other drivers. Any second now I’ll be able to talk to Kimi, maybe even tickle him under the chin, and there’ll be absolutely no security guards or barriers between me and one of the world’s highest-paid sports stars, just a flimsy wooden table.

I’m surprised how nervous I am – my heart spikes, my mouth dries and my carotid arteries pound in my neck. What to say to Kimi? What to say?

Two girls ahead get a signed picture – no pleasantries exchanged – then walk off upright, breathless, eyes wide, before having an entire conversation of convulsive shrieks. There are male fans too, all dispatched silently. It’s only the youngest kids that Räikkönen goes out of his way for, all of whom are too shy to make eye contact. He leans over the table, smiles, speaks briefly and places the signed card in their hand. My turn. Oh god.

‘Hello Kimi, we’re from CAR Magazine and we’ve come to…’ Räikkönen looks up slowly from under the oversized brim of his Red Bull baseball cap and fixes his wolf-like, ice blue eyes dead on mine. He looks absolutely furious, and I mean absolutely, genuinely ready-to-punch-me angry.

‘Ach, this is not the time for this,’ he drones. ‘I just wanted to say we’ve come to follow you on the rally,’ I stammer. ‘Look, well, take this,’ he says, staring into the distance, handing me two glossy bits of signed card that depict his Citroën C4 jumping through the air. ‘Are you enjoying rallying?’ I ask. ‘Yes,’ comes the reply, one laboured with the emphasis a child might use to assure his mother he will tidy his bedroom.

Later his PR will explain that Citroën – our hosts – hold no real sway over Räikkönen because he’s Red Bull’s driver. An interview is impossible; if I’m lucky I’ll get a stalky fan pic.

Rallying is very much Plan B for the 2007 F1 world champion. Plan A was to contest the 2010 F1 championship – he was contracted to Ferrari this year, but Maranello pushed him out to make way for Fernando Alonso. Other talks stalled, and so Räikkönen’s long-held WRC ambitions took over, the Finn hooking up with fellow countryman Kaj Lindström, one-time co-driver for multiple WRC champion Tommi Mäkinen.

‘We first talked when I worked with Tommi [who retired at the end of 2003!]. Kimi said he’d like to do rally one day, and I said I would be his co-driver,’ says Lindström, revealing a more deeply-held desire and sense of loyalty on Räikkönen’s part than his icy, stoic demeanour can suggest.

Making – and trusting – pacenotes is something Räikkönen has struggled with after the predictability of F1 circuits. So, how do they build that trust? Through simply driving? ‘Well, you have to do things to get to know each other outside the car too,’ says Lindström. ‘What like?’ ‘Well… things.’ All Räikkönen’s inner circle are hesitant when it comes to fleshing out details.

The pair have done five rallies so far, this weekend’s 2010 season opener being their sixth, and Räikkönen’s first as a fully fledged WRC driver. He’s driving a Citroën C4 alongside Sébastien Ogier in the Citroën Junior Team, a peg below world champion Sébastien Loeb and Danni Sordo’s factory effort.

When you look at the awnings and the slick team transporters, the two outfits look pretty similar, but where as many as 70 people work at the factory team, just 17 work with Räikkönen and Ogier. Testing is far more limited too, and the car – though similar – is to Loeb’s 2008 spec. Meanwhile, Räikkönen’s engineer, Cederic Mazenq, is a young chap whose motorsport CV dates back to only 2006 and whose WRC career began only in 2009. No red carpet here.

‘Kimi rang me personally in October last year to ask if he could do this,’ says no-nonsense Citroën Racing boss Olivier Quesnel. ‘I said he would need to bring the budget. Red Bull paid; we met in January.’

Does Räikkönen get preferential treatment? ‘No, he has to go fast first. He is like a young driver, rallying is very complicated and he has to learn. But I know that he’s doing it very seriously and really wants to succeed. After the first half of the year we’ll see, but I’m sure he’ll do well.’

‘He is professional, open-minded and clever,’ adds engineer Mazenq, ‘and his feedback – because of F1 – is very precise; he feels every click on the dampers. But he knows it’s a new challenge, that he can’t yet compete with the top drivers and that he has to learn slowly.

‘We have tried to set up his car so it is easier for him, so that he can concentrate 70% on driving, 30% on pacenotes. He has a slightly softer suspension set-up than the others so he can easily feel the lateral and longitudinal grip and have more confidence. But he is smoother on entry with the steering than normal, so he gets understeer. We have to half-way adapt the car, half-way adapt Kimi.’

Some moan that rallying isn’t as gruelling as it was, but they’re still long old days on the WRC. It starts on Thursday at 8pm with the Super Special, two cars racing Scalextric-style in a stadium. The next day starts at 8.18am in the forests, the drivers barely stopping until gone 8pm. Saturday is ‘just’ 7.58am until nearer 6pm; Sunday 7.52am until 3.30pm. During that time the drivers will pound 345km of difficult stages, trusting pacenotes entirely as they commit to blind bends, later navigating a further 445km on public roads as spiked tyres rumble coarsely below them. F1 it ain’t.

At 8am on Friday we drive to the stages with studded winter tyres clawing at icy, snow-dusted roads, grateful for our multiple thermal layers and waterproofs and thick boots as the temperature dips to –21degC.

We park and walk into the forests, and the sun spears through evergreens laden with snow, backlighting smoke from fires that fans have lit to keep warm and cook food, a smell of sausages wafting through the sharp, cold air. There’s a lot of beer about, kids roaming, Finnish flags waving and just a handful of marshals who’ll blow a whistle seconds before a rally car roars by at 75mph in a place where you’d barely top 30mph.

Loeb is past first in a blur of guttural induction slurps and thunderclaps, then he’s slightly sideways and airborne over a crest, a snowy mist enveloping us in his wake; Ford driver Mikko Hirvonen is next, clearly faster, absolutely on it. Räikkönen’s seventh – quick, committed, but visibly slower. Later he’ll spin, then compound his error by sinking into the soft snow banks at the side of the road while turning round. Twenty six minutes will tick by.

When he rolls into service after dark, Räikkönen is mobbed by the press as we abandon the leaders for a guy who’s now half an hour down on them, 47th out of 54. Barely able to open his door in the crush, he leans out and pushes gently at a photographer. We all sway backwards, and the driver who’s kneeling behind us trying to fix his car gets crushed and pushes back; nobody’s in control of this tumult of flashbulbs and notepads. Räikkönen talks to no-one, but his co-driver does.

‘For a guy who’s done five rallies, his driving is absolutely incredible,’ says Lindström, buzzing with adrenaline. ‘You ask Petter Solberg, anyone, it’s incredible. Okay, it’s unfortunate we went off, but these things happen and Kimi Räikkönen himself was digging us out with a shovel! I just hope people focus on his driving, not making some kind of scandal newspaper story.’

With that Lindström’s gone, checking the car into service, tailed by more reporters. Later we’ll eavesdrop on a WRC TV interview, the only media who get access, but Räikkönen says nothing revelatory – ‘it would be nice to go faster’; ‘it’s much more challenging than F1’ – then, remarkably, pushes past me with what I’m sure is a horrified glimmer of recognition, walks over to the inebriated Finnish fans who’ve been incessantly shouting his name on megaphones, then laughs and signs their crash helmets. Is my approach too subtle?

Saturday sees some impressive performances on what even leader Hirvonen describes as very difficult stages: ‘There are deep ruts; loose snow, ice and gravel. You take chances all the time.’ Räikkönen remains consistent, if unspectacular – 54.4sec off the pace on stage nine in 11th; a minute down in 32nd through 10; 22.8sec down but up to sixth on stage 15.

We continue to follow him everywhere. When he gets out of his car to check tyre pressures at a remote refuelling station, we bound out from behind a pile of logs; when he takes the back way into the service area, he doubletakes as I wave from the side of the road; when we stake out his motorhome, he slips out of another door and emerges between two tents. I stand next to his car for an hour at evening service as my feet freeze, then discover he’s eating in Citroën’s hospitality area. He is as well; Kimi Räikkönen eating his dinner right there. We can just walk in.

I take the horse whisperer’s approach – walk in timidly, look at the floor, take a seat at the opposite end of the marquee, sit there for a few minutes, then approach his PR while WRC TV grabs an interview. One picture with Kimi. One picture. ‘Kimi. One picture,’ says his PR.

Kimi Räikkönen rolls his eyes, then walks over and stands next to me. ‘Thanks Kimi,’ I say. There’s no reply. Mark Fagelson takes the snap. Räikkönen immediately retreats to safety. That’s it. We’re done. Wow.

The rally ends the next day after 21 demanding stages. Hirvonen finishes 42.3sec ahead of Loeb who’s 33.1sec ahead of Jari-Matti Latvala. Possibly the world’s best F1 driver finishes in 30th, 37min 47.2sec off the winner and over 30 minutes behind fifth-place teammate Ogier. ‘In F1 the only big change is when you’re on slicks in the wet,’ he tells WRC TV later, ‘but in rally every corner can be different and usually is. I have a lot of respect for the top-level guys.’

Will he be back for 2011? Team boss Olivier Quesnel hasn’t ruled out promotion to the works team, but I doubt it. Räikkönen says he enjoys the WRC’s no-bullshit ethos, but with that comes an autograph session that anyone can gatecrash; a service park where journalists roam in wild packs; the necessity to drive on roads where the public can simply follow you.

The WRC won’t change to accommodate Räikkönen, and you wonder if he might not crave a bit of F1 bullshit – some properly defined barriers between him, the public and the press – from time to time. It’d certainly get me off his back. As we leave to catch our plane I figure his PR is getting me off his back too when he tells me to email some questions and Räikkönen will answer them. It feels like emailing Father Christmas. Then, four days later, a response pings into my inbox. I can’t quite believe it.

‘Do you have rally heroes?’ I’ve asked. ‘No, I never had any heroes in F1 and it is the same in rallying,’ writes Räikkönen. ‘But I’ve always been friendly with rally drivers like Tommi Mäkinen, who has run my car for me in the past. He has been a great champion.’

‘Is rally scarier than F1?’ ‘I’m never scared in a car so it’s hard to say. It’s true that in rallying you are close to the trees, but the speeds are lower than F1. At the moment it is more difficult than F1, certainly!’

‘Will rallying make you a better F1 driver?’ ‘I don’t think so as it’s another style of driving completely. In rallying you are competing on such a huge variety of surfaces and conditions, and technically F1 is very different with all the parameters like aerodynamics that don’t really play a part in rallying.’

‘Was Sweden more gruelling than an F1 weekend?’ ‘In some ways, yes. We were leaving at 5.30am, then not getting back until after 10pm. You have just half an hour at service halts, then a bit longer in the evening, so there is not much time to do everything. On the other hand, the physical forces on your body are not as big as they are in F1.’

‘Everyone says this is a learning year for you in the WRC, but can you really see yourself in the 2011 WRC?’ ‘There’s no point in thinking about that until halfway through this season, but for sure there is a possibility that I might stay in rallying next year.’

All that time stalking, freezing and travelling and a simple email answers more than we’d probably have covered in person. ‘The trick,’ says the PR, ‘is to get him when he’s bored.’

As we’ve learned, that’s harder than Räikkönen’s apathetic glaze suggests.



visit the source of this amazing piece :D

Kimi Raikkonen reckons not much has changed in F1, he just understands "all the bullsh*t" a lot better.

Raikkonen walked away from Formula One at the end of the 2009 season after Ferrari and the Finn opted to part ways with the Italian stable paying him off.

The 2007 World Champion made a welcome return to the paddock this season, racing for Lotus with whom he's already secured five podium finishes.

But while Raikkonen's talent definitely hasn't change, neither has the 32-year-old's attitude towards F1 especially when asked the same questions over and over.

"Nothing has changed for me," he told Totalrace.br. "Okay the team is different.

"It's great to here (at Lotus). This team is more peaceful. They want to win but the mood is different from other teams. I have no complaints."

Asked if he could happily stay away from journalists, he laughed and said: "These are the same questions! Nothing has changed.

"I know what happens in F1. I've been here long enough to understand the bullsh*t surrounding the sport. People try to create stories. I don't care. Sometimes good, sometimes not but I don't worry about it.

"You have to work at your job and stop looking at this kind of thing as it will probably make you angry which doesn't help.

"I live my own life as relaxed as possible."

The Lotus racer, though, concedes that sponsorship events and the media are all part of the game.

"Everyone knows that driving is just part of the job - and of course for us is the principal part. But there are other things, because there is big money involved in the sport so it's not surprising.

"People are more of less the same, we go to other places but the races are more or less the same."

read more

Q. Where will you be in 10 years?
KR: I dunno, I mean I'll have nothing to do with Formula One, so maybe do some motorsports for fun, and have a family probably.
LH: Still racing I guess.

Q. The best thing about F1?
KR: Driving
LH: Driving

Q. The worst?
KR: Probably the PR stuff!
LH: There is no worst.

Q. Favourite colour?
KR: Black
LH: Purple

Q. Favourite circuit?
KR: Spa
LH: Monaco

Q. Your job is...
KR: It's my passion, it's also my work, it's what I like.
LH: The best

Q. Spain is...
KR: A nice place, I've been many times in Spain in racing and testing.
LH: Beautiful

Q. Beach or mountains?
KR: Mountains
LH: Beach

Q. 2nd place is?
KR: Losing.
LH: An achievement

Q. Fernando Alonso.
KR: Double world champion! He's a very nice guy, very straightforward
LH: Perfectionist

Q. Speak Spanish?
KR: Ah...not really, no!
LH: I don't know...Ola!....Gracias. Olas amigos?

Mr. Raikkonen Lotus is a quick car. Is it fast enough to fight for wins against Vettel?
I do not know. The car is good but I don´t know if it's good enough for victories. At least we are not far away from the top!

You and Vettel once have been good friends. How do you estimate his rise to a double world champion?
We´ve been living close to each other in Switzerland until he moved away and we didn´t see each other that often anymore. But we already talked to each other again since my return. It has been like it used to be. He didn´t change at all.

In the past you often played Badminton. You used to win most of the times.
I still do. If I lose it´s only on the track. Sebastian became a great race driver but he is still a nice guy.

Does it make a difference to drive against him compared to other drivers?
No. There is no difference whether you drive against a friend or not. I want to win against all the drivers.

You are also known as the Iceman because you are always that cool. Do you ever think about your public image?
I don´t care about my image. It doesn´t change my life. For me it´s important that I´m happy with the things I´m doing. I´m not here to play a role I´m not happy with.

But are you really that cool?
There is no reason to freak out under normal cirumstances. I can´t understand why sometimes people get so emotional even though nothing has happened.

Earlier this year you took part in a snowmobile race and broke your wrist. You also kept your cool.
Sometimes you get injured sometimes not. Of course my boss was not amused. But I wouldn´t drive in F1 without those liberties.

You didn´t suceed in WRC. What was the reason?
I wasn´t used to listen to somebody else. But the trust in the pace notes and your co-drive is the thing which makes the difference in rallies. If one would drive a stage a few times there wouldn´t be much time difference between the drivers. In the second year I had less difficulties as I knew most of the stages.

Watching you driving one does get the feeling that nothing has changed since your retirement.
It indeed hasn´t changed. We got older but the cars are still the same. And the tires are not so different this year compared to 2009.

Can you explain why it took Michael Schumacher longer to feel well inside of the car?
It only depends whether you have a good or a bad car. It´s much easier when you have a fast car as I do have. In this light he didn´t have much luck.

You´re also much younger.
Actually I don´t want to compare us. He does his stuff and I do my. That´s it.

Do you to remember what you told to a TV reporter before Michael's last race in 2006? You went to the toilet.
I was just being honest. The reporter asked a stupid question so he got a stupid answer.