Those of us that follow all things motorsport will certainly not have missed news this week that a former Formula One World Champion has been settling into his new office – a Lotus F1 seat. Yes, I am of course talking about Kimi Raikkonen’s return to F1 with his new team, Lotus, formerly Renault.
This week he has been blasting around the Valencia test facility whilst he dials himself back into the rhythm of the most demanding motorsport there is. Lotus’ signing of the Finn has excited many of us that follow F1 as we remember him to be an extremely fast talent – one of the quickest over a single lap that I’ve ever seen.
Raikkonen left F1 at the end of the 2009 season, a year where he was driving a Ferrari that was drastically off the pace, yet he still managed to win at Spa, one of the most challenging circuits in the world where the driver can make up for a lack of car performance. Ferrari themselves admitted that 2009’s car was a bit of a dog, however they bounced back with a brilliant machine in 2010 that very nearly won the Drivers’ Championship in the hands of Kimi’s replacement, Fernando Alonso. Maybe Kimi will feel that he could have gone one better than Alonso in that same car?
Well now he is driving for the Enstone based team that Alonso won both his Championships with; will Kimi be able to double up his championship trophies with the newly named and rebranded Lotus F1 Team? It would be a bit of dream story if he did!
When Kimi was at his peak throughout the mid noughties, there were so many occasions where he left the others in a cloud of exhaust gases, and I personally thought Kimi was the most exciting driver on the F1 grid. In 2003, driving for McLaren as a youngster who had replaced the legend that was Mika Hakkinen, Raikkonen went on to win his first race in Malaysia and only lost the World Championship by two points at the final round in Japan.
Then in 2005, still at McLaren, Raikkonen again challenged for the title, this time he went head to head with the aforementioned Spaniard, Fernando Alonso. Raikkonen won seven Grand Prix but still lost out on the title by 21 points due to a dreadfully unreliable McLaren that let him down on so many occasions. He retired from three races, all of which Alonso capitalised on by winning, whereas Alonso only retired from one race that season in what was a consistently strong Renault F1 package.
Raikkonen was rewarded however in 2007 when he finally clinched the World Championship by just one point from his rivals, as Kimi won six Grand Prix in a brilliant debut year for Ferrari.
However, what stands out most for me was Raikkonen’s die hard attitude towards racing – at the Nurburgring in 2005, for example, Raikkonen led the race as the drivers began the final lap, however he was suffering from a serious problem with his front tyres, and as he braked for the first corner on the final lap, his suspension gave way and he ploughed into the tyre wall, and out of the race. He had the option to come into the pit and change his tyres before the problem worsened however that would have cost him the lead of the race and some serious points in the Championship, so instead he stayed out and took a chance – unfortunately for him, on this occasion, it was not a case of “he who dares wins”.
Raikkonen was also extremely entertaining to watch as he pulled off some fine overtaking manoeuvres during an era where overtaking was fairly minimal. Raikkonen’s return to F1 is a much anticipated one and everyone will be looking forward to seeing the Finn back on the track and competing once again.
