5 most memorable moments of Kimi Raikkonen at Ferrari

The common saying suggests, there are drivers and there are Finnish racing drivers.

Not since Kimi Raikkonen has the tectonic world of Formula 1 seen another incredibly loved driver; someone hailed as the Iceman for his unflappable nature and unrelenting abilities to focus on the main job at hand, i.e., going fast in a car, eschewing all the other surrounding hype.

There have been some extraordinary moments for Raikkonen, who happens to the oldest driver on the grid.

There have been moments where Raikkonen has left fans stunned by standing on the top step of the podium at the 2012 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix and that too, in his returning year in F1.

And there've been moments where Raikkonen has managed to claw his way back to gain an unlikely win going to the very top having begun from seventeenth.

But these moments have come in a Lotus and in a McLaren, respectively.

That leaves us to speculate what might be the top 5 moments of Kimi in Ferrari.

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#1 Winning the driver's title in 2007

Brazilian Formula One Grand Prix: The Iceman rises to the top

Once Alonso had put it wisely when he said, "In life, the first dream is to become first a racing driver, then the other dream is to become a Formula 1 driver and, finally, a Ferrari Formula 1 driver."

In that regard, Raikkonen's colossal moment came back in 2007 when he won the World Championship in his maiden stint at the Scuderia.

This was an incredible achievement for a young driver, contesting in only his seventh season and it would see Kimi emerge victorious with six Grand Prix wins that season.

What was great about Raikkonen's win was his epic triumph against Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso, two of the greats on the current grid, who had then posed a staunch challenge at the Finn, which Kimi was able to endure and get the better off.

To this day, Raikkonen remains the last world champion for Ferrari, a feat he'd garnered 11 seasons back.

#2 A fighting P4 at Spa-Francorchamps in 2014

It wasn't the best year for Kimi, but he managed a fighting fourth at Belgium

This feat might actually come across as a surprise to some.

If there was a season that saw Raikkonen suffer miserably, both in form as well as owing to an indifferent car that he wasn't able to extract the most out of, then it would be the 2014 Formula 1 season, that marked the return of the Finn to his former racing team.

All throughout the year, Raikkonen was thumped, even bamboozled by teammate Fernando Alonso, who collected 161 points to Raikkonen's 55 in the end.

But even then, his form in its lowest ebb, Raikkonen managed to secure a best-place finish for himself at Spa-Francorchamps, where he put all those years of experience into collecting 12 vital points via a valuable fourth-place finish.

In so doing, he went flat out at Eau Rouge and even managed to pass several of the cars in the midfield to secure the only points that were worth savouring that season.

#3 2017 Monaco Grand Prix Pole

Kimi was fast all weekend at the F1 Grand Prix of Monaco 2017

Thanks to an awesome qualifying run on Saturday, a day prior to the race-day, Raikkonen put his Ferrari right on top at the fashionable principality of Monte Carlo.

Going really fast at 1:12:178, Raikkonen, coming into the sixth round of the 2017 Formula 1 season at the back of criticism that he wasn't as fast as his teammate, managed to silence some critics.

And truth be told, eight in ten fans might even tell you that he was destined for a win. Within seconds of the five red lights turning green, on race day, Raikkonen got off to a flier, chipping away from second-placed Sebastian Vettel.

And Kimi would continue to lead the Grand Prix holding track position up until lap 34 off 78, which is when he would be unexpectedly asked to box.

This meant that Vettel, who was behind Raikkonen, would gain the lead of the race all thanks to Raikkonen being asked to make what seemed an unscheduled pit stop.

In the end, Ferrari rather controversially ruined Kimi's race perceptibly in the bid to give Vettel a fighting chance against Hamilton, the eventual championship-winner.

But Raikkonen, going fast and maintaining the lead whilst defending from an attacking Seb until the mid-way stage proved that he was up for a fight and may surely have eloped with the win that even now seems elusive.

#4 2009 Brazilian Grand Prix fighting-finish

F1 Grand Prix of Brazil, 2009- Kimi proved why he's called the Iceman

The 2009 season saw Raikkonen contesting in vastly underwhelming machinery especially when compared to his championship-winning car of 2007.

Clearly, when compared to the McLarens and the Brawn GP, this wasn't the best that Ferrari had rolled out for the season.

The Ferrari F60 wasn't as impeccable a machine as the ones Raikkonen had driven previously and it imposed on Kimi the challenge to endure a vague front-end that proved a bit of a damp squib for the Finn.

Yet, he continued to persist that year, going as far as winning an epic contest at the Spa-Francorchamps, when he lunged ahead of the smashing Force India of Giancarlo Fisichella and clinched a memorable win.

But apart from all of that, Raikkonen put up a daunting show at Interlagos that year, in a move that's hitherto less remembered when admiring the legend of the 'Iceman.'

During the mid-way stage of the challenging contest, Raikkonen, in the pits was tucked right behind the McLaren Mercedes of Heikki Kovalainen.

But Raikkonen's fellow Finn's car, on account of being given an unsafe release, with the fuel hose still attached to Heikki's car. On account of this incident, within seconds, the Ferrari of Kimi Raikkonen was doused in fuel that later led to an outbreak of fire that directly posed a threat at Kimi himself.

But, instead of race-retiring, Kimi continued despite the pit fiasco and went on to gather a fighting P6, proving just why it's apt to celebrate him as the 'Iceman'- a man who keeps his cool during intense moments.

#5 The Record-shattering feat at 2018 Italian Grand Prix effort at Monza

F1 Grand Prix of Italy, 2018: Raikkonen bossed the qualifying!

When Kimi Raikkonen left Vettel and Hamilton behind in putting his SF-70 H on pole at Monza, he claimed a bit of a history and a coveted one at that in the annals of Formula 1.

In setting fire to Monza, the home race of the Scuderia Ferrari, Raikkonen made history by driving the fastest ever lap in the sport, going as fast as 1:19:119. In so doing, he also broke the previous record held by Juan Pablo Montoya.

Later, on race day, Raikkonen and Hamilton engaged in a memorable duel that may long be remembered for times to come.

As Kimi went down fighting but not before defending brilliantly from a ferocious Hamilton for 45 full laps, he'd establish his presence in the minds of perhaps even his harshest critics who'd accused him of saying that the Finn was no longer fast in an F1 car.