On this day in F1 – The birth of Kimi Raikkonen
The birth of Kimi Raikkonen, the talented world champion who really did not enjoy racing in modern Formula One.
He finished runner-up twice for McLaren before he secured his title with Ferrari in 2007, but had become so disenchanted that he moved into rallying in 2010 despite still being in contract with the Italian team. A hard-drinking, party animal, you suspect he would have thrived had he been involved a generation earlier. As he himself said;
“If the F1 world could go back 20 years, it would be the same as rallying now.”
Credit: ESPN
Hero
I think he is my favourite driver. He tells it like it is and he doesn’t mind if people don’t like it. If the car is good, and right for him, he is almost unbeatable.
I am so glad they brought back the radio transmissions between driver and pit, because his were, and are, some of the most entertaining.
He didn’t really have much success in rally though which underlines my often made point that it takes special skill sets to compete at the top level in the various racing series around the world.