When Kimi Räikkönen clinched the World Championship at the last gasp for Ferrari in 2007, even the least ardent of Ferrari fans would concede that the Finn had certainly deserved his first title. After five seasons taking the battle to the Prancing Horse with the oft-unreliable McLaren Mercedes, it must have been a doubly satisfying triumph for the normally taciturn Räikkönen.
Following hard on the heels of the 2000 season's rookie sensation Jenson Button, Kimi Räikkönen entered the 2001 campaign with even fewer car races under his belt than the talented English youngster. A graduate of the World and European karting scene, The Finn had just 23 events in single-seater cars to his credit by the time Sauber cemented his signature on an F1 contract, causing some concern among the establishment and governing body alike over his alleged inexperience. Like Button, however, Räikkönen pointed to an extensive kart career as providing the basis for his rapid escalation to the top flight.
Beginning his motorsport odyssey at the tender age of eleven in 1991, the Espoo resident initially contested national events in his native Finland, before moving onwards and upwards to the tightly fought international scene. Although titles may not have come his way, Räikkönen proved that he had the calibre to run at the front, and took race wins at several championship rounds before making the move into cars. First in the 1997 and 1998 Finnish and Nordic series in Formula ICA and A championships respectively, Räikkönen had already won his maiden international FA race two years previously.
Eschewing the more traditional Formula Ford route into single-seaters, Räikkönen plumped for the slicks-and-wings category run by Renault for his debut – and made the move to the junior formulae hotbed of Britain for his education. Joining FFord team Haywood Racing - which had powered Button to the 1998 British FFord title – the Finn took a podium finish on his maiden outing, but was later forced to quit the series after technical problems thwarted a championship challenge.
Preferring to save his small financial budget for a concerted assault on another title, Kimi teamed up with the crack Manor Motorsport squad for the FRenault UK Winter Series, having proven his ability on sporadic outings in both the FFord Zetec Eurocup and Festival events at the end of 1999. The decision to move to Manor paid off handsomely, as a 100 per cent record secured the Winter Series title, and set the Finn up for an equally successful season in the main series the following year.
It was Räikkönen's prowess in landing the 2000 British FRenault Sport title that first attracted the attention of the Formula One teams, as he took seven wins, ten podiums, seven pole positions and six fastest laps from the ten races. Further impressive performances in the category's Eurocup – where he took two wins, two poles and two fastest laps from three events (and retired from the lead of the other) – finally persuaded Peter Sauber to offer Räikkönen a maiden F1 test, as much to prevent other teams getting their hands on him first!
With so few races under his belt, there were naturally serious concerns that Räikkönen may be biting off more than he could chew in jumping straight from FRenault to F1, but the confident Kimi quickly dispelled any doubts by completing in excess of 100 trouble-free testing kilometres at Mugello in Italy. Further impressive outings at Jerez and Barcelona in December – where he bettered the lap times of many more established rivals – only served to confirm his potential, and Sauber moved quickly to secure his name on a contract. He set about proving his point in 2001 and, along with equally young team-mate Nick Heidfeld, rattled the cage of the opposition with a string of points finishes, including sixth place on his debut in Melbourne. High points of fourth in both Austria and Canada helped elevate the Finn to a championship ranking of tenth - and attracted the attention of others.
Before the end of the season, Räikkönen was a McLaren man – the Woking team having acted quickly to replace the retiring Mika Häkkinen and stolen his younger countryman from under the noses of Ferrari. Räikkönen's end-of-season form dipped after the announcement was made, and he ended his year with a big shunt at the Japanese GP that eliminated Jean Alesi’s Jordan, happily without injury.
Undaunted by either that, or the pressure he faced at McLaren, Räikkönen performed well in 2002. Partnered by veteran David Coulthard, the Finn soon showed he had the upper hand in qualifying, beating DC ten times by the season's end. He also went well in the races, although reliability problems from Brazil onwards saw him notch up six successive retirements. Mostly, however, these were due to circumstances outside his control and the Finn eventually ended the season with 24 points, and four podium finishes, one of which so nearly became his maiden win. He was robbed in France, however, when Allan McNish's Toyota engine dumped its oil on the track, causing Kimi to run off line and allow Michael Schumacher to grab the lead.
Buoyed by the knowledge gained in 2002, Räikkönen had a storming year in 2003, scoring his maiden F1 win in Malaysia, and taking the battle for the title with Schumacher right down to the wire - the Finn losing out in the end by just two points. To say he was aided by the new points system, which meant the gap between first and second was worth only two points now and not four, cannot be denied, but neither too could his form. Low points in the new single lap qualifying saw him start from the back in Spain and Canada, but Räikkönen justified his 'iceman' nickname by overcoming errors to consistently outperform team-mate Coulthard. Ten podium finishes and another three points finishes were a mark of his consistency and, with a little more luck, he might so easily have been the champion, despite running the ageing MP-17D after the replacement MP4-18 flopped in testing.
Kimi's third season with McLaren was bitterly disappointing, however, as the 2004 model MP4-19 was never up to the job of tackling Schumacher and Ferrari. In the early part of the season, both he and team mate Coulthard struggled to achieve any creditable results, with Räikkönen managing just ten points prior to the introduction of the MP4-19B at the French GP. The reworked car saved his year and, following a second place finish at the British GP, Kimi went on to win in Belgium, beating Schumacher fair and square. By the end of the year, third in China, sixth in Japan and second in Brazil had raised his points scored to 45, although that only equated to seventh in the drivers' championship.
Räikkönen was hoping that McLaren could get it right for 2005 and the new MP4-20 proved to an incredibly fast machine. Facing an uphill battle to regain ground lost to Fernando Alonso early in the season, Kimi hit back with wins in Spain Monaco and Canada to put him within striking distance of this young rival by mid-season, but he was always fighting a losing battle as the Spaniard did more than enough to keep his lead intact. The Finn scored four more wins in Hungary, Turkey, Belgium and Japan to cement second place in the driver’s table nineteen points behind Alonso and a massive fifty ahead of Michael Schumacher in third.
Naturally Räikkönen started amongst the favourites for the Championship chase in 2006, but it was to be a somewhat patchy this last shot at the title for McLaren. (It appears he had already committed himself to Ferrari, although a formal announcement was only made at Monza). The Finn on his day was as quick as ever, taking three pole positions, but unable to translate any of them into a victory. Second place at Monza was a high point, whilst retirements at Monaco and the Hungaroring the lows, when victories were more than possible.
With the retirement of Michael Schumacher, and a reshuffle of key Ferrari personnel, the arrival of Räikkönen at Ferrari emphatically marked the beginning of a new era at Maranello. Much was expected from the laid-back Finn who was reportedly on a $30 million a year retainer. After storming to a maiden Ferrari win in the opening race of the season in Australia, Kimi struggled somewhat as he adapted his style to the Bridgestone tyres after years of running on Michelins. Indeed it was round eight in the championship before the title contender begin to appear, Räikkönen taking back-to-back wins in Magny Cours and Silverstone.
As the season began its second half, Räikkönen clung on to the McLaren pair of Hamilton and Alonso, until he dominant win in the Belgian Grand Prix which rekindled his seemingly faint title hopes. Third place in China seemed to be too little to maintain the Finn’s title bid, but at last, fate was kind to Kimi. As Hamilton faltered, the Ferrari driver ended the season with two wins taking his tally of for the season to six.
In the final reckoning Räikkönen edged out the McLaren pair by a single point over the course of a tumultuous season to emphatically close the door on the Michael Schumacher era at Maranello. With the resources at his disposal the Finn, still only 28, can look forward to contesting the title for a good few years to come, unless of course, as he has hinted, and quits the sport to pursue other interests.
