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But even if he himself is not fond of speaking in public, Kimi is still one of the most talked-about drivers in the sport - and has been ever since his shock introduction.
It was as long ago as 2000 when Sauber boss Peter Sauber surprised the world of F1 when he announced that he had offered the 21-year-old Finn a race deal for the following season on provision that he was handed the necessary superlicense.
Having competed in just 23 car races, Raikkonen became one of the least experienced drivers ever to enter F1, but immediately delivered impressive testing performances to justify the Swiss team's faith in him.
Earlier in his career, his international results in karting were the best ever achieved by a Finnish driver, and he went on to further impress by winning the 2000 British Formula Renault Championship after taking seven wins in 10 races.
Although he met with opposition from F1 drivers wary of accepting a driver on the grid with even less experience than Jenson Button the year before him, Raikkonen proved his critics wrong.
His debut season with Sauber was sensational, the apparently ice-cool youngster proving within just a handful of races that he was a special talent.
By the time Mika Hakkinen told Ron Dennis that he was thinking of taking a sabbatical in 2002, the race was on to sign the younger Finn.
McLaren and Ferrari both wanted his services, but Kimi was swayed by the fact that if he drove for Ferrari he'd be a No.2 driver to Schumacher while at McLaren he would be allowed to win.
His 2002 season was also electric, but an underpowered McLaren on less than perfect Michelins meant he was rarely able to challenge for the lead. Although he didn't outscore his team-mate Coulthard, he regularly outqualified him. It was only due to the team's very 'un-McLaren-like' poor reliability that he didn't finish any higher than sixth place overall with 24 points.
The low point of his year came when he led the French Grand Prix with two laps left before sliding wide on oil left by Allan McNish's retiring Toyota. Marshals had failed to put warning oil flags out and the Finn was left with the sight of Michael Schumacher squeezing past him and claiming his fifth world title in the process.
Yet the Finn's first win wasn't long in coming.
With McLaren beginning the 2003 season in dominant fashion, Raikkonen took the chequered flag at the Malaysian GP, the second race of the campaign.
A string of podium finishes followed, and at the halfway stage of the campaign Raikkonen was leading the Drivers' standings.
However, the McLaren was falling behind both the Williams and Ferrari at this stage and it was only Raikkonen's tenacity and ability to steadily accumulate points which kept him in the hunt.
The Championship fight went to the wire in Japan, but a win for Rubens Barrichello guaranteed another title for Ferrari team-mate Michael Schumacher.
Hopes were high that Kimi could go one better in 2004 but even before the Finn was expressing concern at the MP4-19. They were well-founded.
The team's new charger was wretched, ensuring the worst, and most embarrassing, start to a season. Eventually the team unveiled a replacement, yet it was too late to save their season.
Still, the MP4-19B did restore some pride within the team and also enabled Kimi to score his second grand prix victory, a stunning drive at the Belgian GP which left Schumi trailing in his wake.
2005 was a bitter-sweet season for Kimi during which he experienced the highest highs and the lowest lows.
While the Finn had the fastest car on the grid, it was unfortunately powered by a temperamental Mercedes engine. Despite seven grands prix wins and an additional five podium finishes, he eventually had to settle for second place behind Fernando Alonso in the Drivers' battle.
Remaining with McLaren-Mercedes in 2006, the team had one more season to hand the World title to Kimi. They couldn't. In fact, they couldn't even hand him one single race win.
Despite claiming two pole positions and three fastest race lap times, the Finn struggled to get on the podium, claiming just six top-three finishers, none of which was a P1. He finished the year fifth in the Drivers' Championship, quite a drop from the runner-up spot he claimed the previous year.
Raikkonen, though, came back into form in 2007, his first season with Ferrari, winning the season-opening Australian GP after dominating the earlier sessions.
But his form spluttered soon after as he battled with reliability gremlins and the occasional driver error. He fought back in style at the French GP where he claimed his second win of the season which he followed up with win number three in Britain.
However, a retirement in Germany seemed to throw his out of the Championship, leaving him in a fight to catch up to the two McLaren drivers in the latter part of the season. A string of six podium finishes including two race wins meant Raikkonen entered the final grand prix of the year trailing Championship leader Lewis Hamilton by seven points.
The Ferrari driver, though, surprised many when he managed to pull it off claiming the race victory and the 2007 Drivers' Championship title by one point over the McLaren duo.
It was a feat that saw Raikkonen go down in the history books as one of four drivers to come from third place ahead of the final event to win the World title.
The Finn, though, failed to bag a second title in 2008 when he struggled for pace - and perhaps a lack of motivation when he found himself too far down the order.
Two wins the opening four races saw Raikkonen firmly in the hunt for the crown, however, little was he to know that his victory in Spain would be his final one of the season.
He battled to reach the podium, never mind the top step, and wasn't helped by other people's mistakes including Lewis Hamilton crashing into him in the pit lane at the Canadian GP. Nonetheless, the general impression was that Raikkonen's driving lacked the spark of 2007 and he eventually finished a disappointing campaign down in third place.
source:Planet F1
1/06/2009 10:14:00 p.m.
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1/06/2009 08:45:00 p.m.
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1/05/2009 12:01:00 a.m.
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Raikkonen endured a largely torrid season in 2008 and, while he definitely had the speed to set a record-equalling ten fastest laps, he was forced to play second fiddle to Ferrari team-mate Felipe Massa, who only lost out on the title by one point following a dramatic final round showdown in Brazil with McLaren's Lewis Hamilton. Despite all that, however, Blundell reckons the ‘ice-man' could come good again this year.
“I might be completely wrong here but, for some reason, I think Kimi Raikkonen might turn things around and come back stronger than ever,” MB told Crash.net Radio in his exclusive 2009 F1 season preview.
“I am going to put my money on him again for the title - like I did for 2007. Let's wait and see. I might change that prediction when it comes to the first race and when we see what goes on in winter testing!“
As for how Raikkonen performed in 2008, Blundell added that he was shocked by Kimi's form, or lack of it.
“I was very surprised in '08, because I felt Kimi would go on again after pulling the championship off," he admitted, "There was a lot more still to be done and there was no pressure on his shoulders because he had delivered. I thought he would be right there and in contention.”
“At the beginning of the season, he was up there and all was going according to plan. But then, all of a sudden, things dropped out and he went below the radar.
“On many occasions, we saw Kimi struggle in qualifying trim, but then gradually, as the race went on, you would see him and the Ferrari getting it together and coming on strong and pulling off fastest lap after fastest lap.
“But it was all too late then - that was very costly. He never collected enough points when it mattered".
1/04/2009 09:46:00 p.m.
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The 40-year-old Finn, who retired as a McLaren race driver in 2001, said his countryman Kimi Raikkonen will bounce back to form after a lacklustre season with Ferrari this year.
"Kimi did not have a good year, but in 2009 he will attack again and win races," Hakkinen told laola1.at. "He knows what went wrong and will stop it from happening again."
Hakkinen also backed the sport's 78-year-old Chief Executive Bernie Ecclestone, following recent suggestions that he should stand down.
"In the past decades he was the one who moved Formula One forwards," Hakkinen insisted. "He is absolutely the right man for the job. "
Meanwhile, Hakkinen tipped 21-year-old Sebastian Vettel, the youngest ever race winner following his 2008 Monza victory, for a F1 title within a 'few years'.
"Vettel has the right stuff," he said. "He is still very young, but exceptionally fast, performing like an old hand. Certainly in the next few years he will take the title."
[via F1-live]
1/03/2009 09:37:00 p.m.
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"If you're the highest paid you have to be the best and he's not doing the job, simple as that," the Ulsterman, who was Michael Schumacher's team-mate between 1996 and 1999, told Virgin Media.
In his season as reigning champion Raikkonen had a lacklustre 2008, failing to win a race after April's Spanish Grand Prix and finishing 22 points behind team-mate Felipe Massa.
It is believed Massa, just one point shy of winning the 2008 drivers' championship, earns only one third of Raikkonen's Ferrari retainer. Both drivers have contracts to the end of 2010.
Irvine said of Raikkonen, 29: "If he doesn't beat Massa next year I'd be sacking him or reducing his wages massively."
"In sport if you perform you get paid and if you don't perform you're out."
[via F1-live]
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same old, same old :roll:
1/02/2009 09:42:00 p.m.
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Appuntamento internazionale della Formula1 e del MotoGp che riunisce a Madonna di Campiglio i piloti ed i team della Scuderia Ferrari e della Ducati ed i giornalisti di tutto il mondo
WROOOM - MADONNA DI CAMPIGLIO
FERRARI & DUCATI PRESS SKI MEETING 2009
PROGRAMMA 2009
Giovedì 1 gennaio:
Ore18.30 - Pista Belvedere – Snow & Fire
Wrooom illumina la notte campigliana: uno spettacolo di fuoco annuncerà l’evento in occasione della fiaccolata del primo dell’anno.
Sabato 10 gennaio:
Ore14.00 - Laghetto - Aspettando Wrooom
In arrivo dai cieli dolomitici un segno dedicato a tutti gli Ospiti di Madonna di Campiglio, per dare il via alla 19° edizione del Ferrari & Ducati Press Ski Meeting.
Lunedì 12 gennaio:
Ore17.30 - Piazza Dolomiti - Wrooom Space
Presentazione della Wrooom Week e inaugurazione della Wrooom Gallery, un percorso temporale per rievocare diciannove spettacolari anni tra neve e motori, con i Campioni che hanno costellato la storia dell’automobilismo e motociclismo. Eccezionalmente per tutti i Visitatori di Madonna di Campiglio, in esposizione la monoposto Ferrari F xxx e Ducati Desmo xxx.
Martedì 13 gennaio:
Ore 17.30 - Piazza Dolomiti - Wrooom Space - Ducati Incontra
Intervista con i Piloti del Team Ducati: dalle conferenze stampa con i giornalisti di tutto il mondo, il Campione del Mondo
Casey Stoner & Nicky Hyden
saranno a disposizione per incontrare il pubblico, rispondere a domande, soddisfare curiosità e… firmare autografi!
Ore 22.30 - Schumacher Streif – Fiaccolata I° manche
All’arrivo della mitica pista nera dedicata al Pluricampione del Mondo, giungeranno in notturna i Piloti Ferrari & Ducati con tutto il team. Un goloso ristoro vi aspetterà .
Mercoledì 14 gennaio:
Dalle ore 16.00 - Piazza Dolomiti - Wrooom Space
Degustazioni enogastronomiche con prodotti tipici, per chi ha voglia di qualcosa di stuzzicante durante la passeggiata.
Freestyle Cocktail: una singolare esibizione di barman acrobatici alla ricerca del cocktail perfetto.
Wrooom Bonfire: arrivo della lunga Fiaccolata Wrooom dalla pista Belvedere al Wrooom Space per il grande falò finale.
Giovedì 15 gennaio:
Ore 17.30 - Piazza Dolomiti - Wrooom Space - Ferrari Incontra
Intervista con i Piloti della Scuderia Ferrari: dalle conferenze stampa con i giornalisti di tutto il mondo, il Campione del Mondo
Kimi Raikkonen & Felipe Massa
saranno a disposizione per incontrare il pubblico, per rispondere a domande, soddisfare curiosità e…firmare autografi!
Ore 22.30 - Schumacher Streif – Fiaccolata II° manche
Venerdi 16 gennaio:
Ore 16.00 - Laghetto – Parkour Contest
I “Creatori di Percorsi” Vi faranno vivere un’esperienza indimenticabile in un movimento fluido e atletico che, grazie alla piena padronanza di corpo e mente, supererà qualsiasi ostacolo si trovi sul loro cammino.
Ore 17.00 - Laghetto – Go-Kart Challenge Exhibition
Imperdibile appuntamento per l’emozionante competizione con
i Campioni del Mondo della Formula1 e del MotoGP,
che si cimenteranno alla guida dei go-kart sul ghiaccio puro del Laghetto di Campiglio. L’unica occasione che vede gareggiare campioni di motociclismo con campioni di automobilismo…! Tra sorpassi, curve paraboliche, testacoda e chicane, chi la spunterà ?
Ore 18.30 - Piazza Dolomiti - Wrooom Space - 19th Wrooom Birthday
Grande festa per celebrare i 19 anni di Wrooom: i Piloti spegneranno le candeline, taglieranno la torta e… buon appetito a tutti! In attesa del memorabile 20° Anniversario nel 2010, per un’altra entusiasmante edizione di Wrooom - Ferrari & Ducati Press Ski Meeting a cui non potrete mancare… Vi aspettiamo!
A seguire…fuochi d’artificio, shopping, happy hour, aperitivi e divertimento non-stop fino a tarda notte.
1/01/2009 09:34:00 p.m.
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