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Kimi Raikkonen of Finland and Ferrari celebrates in parc ferme after winning the race and the F1 World Championship at the Brazilian Formula One Grand Prix at the Autodromo Interlagos on October 21, 2007 in Sao Paulo, Brazil.
Brazilian Grand Prix, Interlagos Circuit, Sao Paulo, Brazil, 2007. Kimi Raikkonen crossed the finish line in first place to seal his first career win in Brazil and was crowned the 2007 World Champion, in his debut year at Ferrari as he won the world championship by a single point from Lewis Hamilton.
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The Iceman’s return to Formula One has been nothing short of fantastic. He was written off when he came back to the sport in 2012, and lots of predictions were made regarding his future which seemed to be headed the Michael Schumacher way; but his performances in the last two years has silenced his critics and has served an effective reminder to the rest of the field, that the Raikkonen of old still exists, and that his time out in rallying has not diminished the hunger to win.
Raikkonen’s divide with the Lotus team though towards the end of the 2013 season meant that he was looking for a seat for the 2014 season, and that is when Ferrari came along. The team with which he had a bittersweet experience with in his first stint as he won his only World Championship title, but who also unceremoniously bundled him out before his contract expired to make way for Fernando Alonso.
Undoubtedly, that is now a thing of the past. Raikkonen’s arrival at Ferrari is a bonus for both sides and at such a time, the focus surely will be on the upcoming season, and an attempt to win.
The 2014 season is being considered by many as one of the most unpredictable seasons in history. With a lot of new rules being put in place and some radical technical changes, namely the change from V8 engines to V6 engines, nobody, not even the teams themselves have a clear idea of where they stand after the end of winter testing. But if one does go purely by the testing results and speculates on the basis of the team’s history, Kimi Raikkonen has cause to feel hopeful.
Raikkonen may not have a lot of wins or career titles to his name, but what makes him a legend in the sport is his massive talent and supreme skill. Raikkonen can be aggressive when he wants, aggressive enough to pull off overtaking manouevers through Eau Rouge, but he can also settle down and compose himself enough to control a race from the front and coast to victory. His 27 consecutive point scoring finish is a good example of his ability and fifth on the all time podium finishes chart indicates his hunger to win.
The 2014 season can be realistically seen by Ferrari and Raikkonen as one of their best chances to win a Championship. The change in engines was always considered as an opportunity for the traditional engine makers to steal a march over their rivals due to a better customization ability to produce the best results from the engine. Obviously the names of Mercedes, Ferrari and Renault crop up, but a disappointing result in pre-season testing for Renault has led them to count themselves out of the running in the 2014 season.
It seems to be a straight fight between Mercedes and Ferrari for the time being. An advantage for Ferrari has been that they seem to have the one lap pace missing in previous seasons which hurt them previously. Race form cannot be predicted yet, but its an area where Ferrari have traditionally been extremely strong, and so has Raikkonen.
His ability to extract the most out of the car is what makes him so dangerous. At Lotus he transformed an ordinary car into a serious title contender and was let down really by the team. Ferrari on the other hand should have no problem in providing the resources, but they tend to stagnate in the later stages of a season when it comes to further upgrading the car which could hamper Raikkonen’s chances.
Now obviously you will wonder why Fernando Alonso will not have the same amount of chances to win as Kimi Raikkonen and it is a pretty valid argument, but if one has been following the sport and especially Alonso’s career at Ferrari, it is pretty clear that Alonso seems to be getting pretty frustrated at Ferrari because he feels that he has lost out on two world championships as a consequence of Ferrari’s inability to provide him with a good car.
It may seem a petty reason to many, but in F1, it is these very reasons which decide a driver’s career. The trust between the team and driver needs to be strong for both to be able to perform their best, but that seems to be missing in the case of Alonso and Ferrari, and with Ferrari’s tendency to back one driver when they have two superstars in their line-up, Raikkonen might just emerge a beneficiary of Alonso’s little feud with Ferrari. Yet both Ferrari and Alonso have declared that there is no tension in the team, and it will be interesting to see how that particular story plays out.
A dream partnership can have two outcomes. One, that the teammates push each other to do their best and thus help the team garner points, or the other outcome is infighting between the two which invariably destroys the chances of one driver and does not help the team much. The partnership of Raikkonen and Alonso seems to be an interesting one.
While Raikkonen is called the Iceman for his cool temperament and ability to remain unaffected by all the goings on in the paddock, Alonso is a fiery character who just does not back down and never fails to make his presence felt. The two will push each other no doubt, and neither will easily be cowed down, nor will they roll over and allow themselves to be pushed around by the team if the other’s title winning chances are great but needs a little team help, and Raikkonen clearly stated his intentions with regards to this early on itself.
Yet if I had to pick one to do better this season, I would pick Raikkonen to trump Alonso, not because he is a better driver, they are equally matched in that respect. Ferrari’s internal politics might just come to his aid and I am pretty sure that Raikkonen just needs a slight opening which he can convert into something big. He will definitely come out all guns blazing, and with Ferrari finally looking as if they are going to be strong contenders, and with a certain Sebastian Vettel and Red Bull writing themselves off, the chance is going to come, but it will be interesting to see of what proportion.
With The Australian Grand Prix 10 days away now, a strong start to the season could just set the tone for the rest of the season, and if you remember, in 2007 it was Raikkonen who won the opening race of the season and then went on to clinch the title. It promises to be a fabulous season, and all I can say is that, keep your eyes on Kimi Raikkonen for a serious title charge.
