History
Fast-tracked into the sport with the
shortest CV on four wheels, the unknown newcomer who came from nowhere
and said next to nothing immediately proved he knew exactly what he was
doing: driving a Formula One car as fast as it could possibly go. The
car couldn’t always keep up with his talent and it took seven seasons
for Kimi ‘Iceman’ Raikkonen to become World Champion. Notoriously
inanimate and uncommunicative, the silent speedster’s frozen expression
in fact masked the hidden depths in one of the coolest, most original
characters in the sport’s history…
Kimi Matias Raikkonen spent
his childhood in a house built by his great grandfather in Espoo, a
suburb of the Finnish capital, Helsinki. To provide for Kimi, born on
October 17, 1979, and his older brother Rami, their hard-working
parents Matti and Paula toiled, respectively, as a road builder and an
office clerk. Money was scarce but the Raikkonens were a happy family
and their humble homestead surrounded by open countryside was an ideal
environment for the two rambunctious youngsters to flex their racing
muscles. At first (when Kimi was just three years old) the brothers
tore around on miniature motocross bikes fitted with training wheels. A
move to karts paved the way for Kimi (who began competitive karting at
10) and Rami (who eventually became a successful rally driver) to make
rapid progress in motorsport, though it came at a cost. Matti had to
work nights as a taxi driver and nightclub bouncer and funds diverted
to karting meant plans to replace the outside lavatory with a proper
bathroom in the family home had to be postponed.
Kimi, a
reluctant student who used his schoolbag as a sled to slide down
snow-covered hills, enjoyed winter sports, especially ice hockey,
though he eventually gave it up because he hated getting up for
early-morning practice. At 16 he left school and enrolled in a course
for mechanics, believing this skill might be the only way to stay
involved in motorsport. Very soon his mechanical expertise, and the
need for family funding, became superfluous, as Kimi’s natural talent
for driving fast led to sponsored rides.
Following a rapid
series of successes in Finnish, Nordic and European karting, he jumped
into a racing car and promptly won two British-based Formula Renault
championships. In the fall of 2000, despite having just 23 car races to
his name, he was given a test by the Sauber Formula One team. Impressed
by his immediate pace and assured approach, Sauber shrewdly signed the
21-year old to drive for them in 2001. His having short-circuited the
conventional route to the top provoked fierce debate over his right,
let alone his readiness, to race at the pinnacle of motorsport.
Raikkonen rapidly silenced his critics (he finished sixth in his Grand
Prix debut) and attracted the attention of McLaren, who saw him as a
likely successor to the retiring two-time champion, Mika Hakkinen.
One
Finn after another proved to be a good thing for McLaren, for whom Kimi
the ‘Iceman’ never gave less than his maximum, always driving to a
personal limit that at least equalled, sometimes exceeded, the best of
his peers. Experts endlessly praised his seamless, straightforward,
mostly mistake-free style. "I never really think about what I’m doing,"
Kimi said in a rare outburst of self-analysis. "I just do it."
His
five seasons at McLaren coincided with a period of unevenly performing,
often unreliable, cars. Yet he finished second in the championship
twice (2003 and 2005), won nine races and finished in the top three on
36 occasions. His podium appearances and subsequent TV interviews
exposed him to public scrutiny under which he tended to squirm and
fidget, tugging his ears, rubbing his nose and trying to hide beneath
his baseball cap. He seldom smiled, spoke sparingly in a mumbled
monotone, then all but ran for the nearest exit.
Yet in his
private life the poker-faced enigma’s icy reserve was prone to
spectacular bouts of thawing out. ‘Drunken Race Ace Kimi Bounced Out Of
Lapdance Club For Fiddling With His Gearstick!’ shrieked a headline in
a British tabloid newspaper. Spanish media gleefully reported that the
vodka-loving Flying Finn was found lying fast asleep outside a bar
embracing an inflatable rubber dolphin. In Monaco he was filmed
cavorting on a yacht, swaying unsteadily on the upper deck then falling
onto a lower level where he landed on his head.
"What I do in my
private life doesn’t make me drive any slower," the free-spirited
speedster insisted. In truth, the Iceman’s private life was running
smoothly and he was well-settled on the domestic front, having in 2004
married Jenni Dahlman, a gorgeous Finnish fashion model and former Miss
Scandinavia. At their sumptuous Swiss home there was plenty of room for
their two dogs and Kimi’s car collection. Asked to name his most prized
possessions, he replied: "My wife and my Ferrari Enzo."
In 2007
he began driving a Ferrari Formula One car for a living, having been
hired (for a reported $41 million a year) to fill the considerable void
left by the departing seven-time World Champion Michael Schumacher,
whose unrivalled work ethic and team leadership qualities were not part
of a Raikkonen repertoire that seemed more akin to another past
champion. A week before his debut with the team, Ferrari’s new recruit
was in Finland, winning a dangerous snowmobile race he had entered
under the alias of ‘James Hunt.’ When the same ‘James Hunt’ later
competed in a powerboat race dressed in a gorilla suit Kimi said he
invoked the name of his hero as a riposte to the media
sensationalization of his private life.
He got off to a fast
start with Ferrari, winning the season-opener from pole position,
though by the penultimate race he was third in the driver standings,
behind the McLaren team mates Fernando Alonso, seeking a third
successive title, and Lewis Hamilton, the record-breaking rookie.
Though Raikkonen had won more races, five to their four apiece, he
remained the long shot among the trio of contenders at the final race,
in Brazil. The phlegmatic Finn delivered sensationally, winning the
race and the 2007 World Drivers’ Championship by a single point.
On
the podium the new champion swigged as much champagne as he sprayed
and, grinning at last, the Iceman broke his silence with a veritable
torrent of words. "I’m very happy. I came from pretty much nothing but
my family, friends and sponsors helped me get here. People will
probably look differently at me and make up more stories about me. But
I am going to lead my life as I want and that’s it."
