Kimi Raikkonen: The return of the Iceman

So finally all those rumors have come true! If not fully at least partially!

Kimi Raikkonen aka the Iceman returns to the Formula One Circuit for the 2012 season, with the Lotus Renault racing team. The 2007 World Formula One Champion was last seen racing for Ferrari, in the 2009 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix; a season which saw him finish sixth in the drivers championship. He took a temporary leave from Formula One saying that he wanted to return to Formula One as soon as possible despite having a contract till 2010 and he was replaced by Fernando Alonso. Since then he has expressed his desire to return to Formula One indicating that it was just a temporary break from F1.

There were rumors that he will be returning to the 2012 season, after first being linked with the Lotus Renault, when he was spotted with the Renault crew and, then recently he was linked with a move to Williams with the possibility of replacing the 42 year old Barrichello. Barrichello, who is into his 20th year of his racing career, is yet to be confirmed for 2012.

Kimi raced in the World Rally Championships in the year 2010 and 2011, though he had already raced in the 2009 season, at the Finnish Rally, where he had retired from the race. He finished tenth in both the seasons he raced, though with different teams.

While away from F1 racing, he did engage in talks, with several teams about his return to Formula One, most notably with his former team, Vodafone McLaren Mercedes, to partner Lewis Hamilton in 2010, after fellow countryman Heikki Kovalainen had a dismal 2009 season, but the negotiations broke down and the move hit a dead end. He was also contacted by Mercedes GP, after the previous Brawn GP team disbanded and moved to Mercedes, they however, signed Michael Schumacher in the end. He was also offered a deal by Toyota, but he again declined as he wanted a race winning car and, a high paying contract.

In 2011, he was linked with a move to Renault but the team boss wanted a face to face talk with Kimi before signing him, but that did not happen unfortunately. The boss wanted a very committed driver and so the duo of Kubica and Petrov were retained. His affiliation with Renault continued and was seen with the team several times in the 2011 season – probably convincing the boss about the commitment he had towards racing. But later during the Singapore Grand Prix, when he was spotted at the Williams headquarters there was a strong indication about him joining Williams, with Rubens Barrichello’s future under doubt.

After the accident of Robert Kubica in the early stages, before the start of the 2011 season there were more chances of a comeback for Kimi in a Renault, so he was frequently seen at the pit garages too. The Renault team were due to announce their drivers for the next season, but they wanted to wait on Kubica before making anything official. By the end of November 2011 Kubica had stated that he wont be racing in the early stages of the 2012 season, though he was trying for a faster recovery and that he did have some test drives. So on 29th November 2011, the Lotus Renault Chief announced their first driver for the 2012 season and that was the ex McLaren and Ferrari Formula One driver Kimi Raikkonen.

So the wait is over for the return of, one of the most exciting racers in Formula One circuit.