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His last career-win might have come as many as five seasons ago, but the Kimi Raikkonen enigma endures pretty much unscathed.
Often called laggard, and on other occasions, labelled 'past his best', Raikkonen is still considered among the quickest drivers on the grid and is admired as the Iceman of F1.
Few drivers in the realm of motor-racing are as admired as they are liked for both their persona and on-track achievements.
Raikkonen, holder of the second-highest number of fastest laps enjoys a phenomenal fan-base around the world and ever since securing his only world title in 2007, continues to be Ferrari's last world champion.
But which have been his greatest career wins? Let's revisit five memorable Grands Prix of Raikkonen.
#1 Japanese Grand Prix, 2005
If there was ever a win that could be dubbed as arguably the greatest Grand Prix victory of the enigmatic Finn's career, one that birthed the 'Iceman' enigma then it would be Raikkonen's win at Japan, 2005.
A young Kimi, emboldened by the challenge to prove his mettle in F1 and driven by sheer speed aced a closing-stages thriller coming in from way behind the grid to pass Renault's Giancarlo Fisichella to crown himself the victor at Japan.
But describing Raikkonen's thrilling closing-lap heroics would be never possible without touching on how far he'd been in the starting grid to even mount any realistic challenge at the legendary Suzuka.
A race that contained more opening lap drama than a martial arts thriller saw Takuma Sato veering off the track, only to be followed by Barrichello while the track position fell to Toyota's Ralf Schumacher, who pulled away successfully from Fisichella.
For several laps from the start of the Grand Prix, Raikkonen, who began P17, tried and missed passing Villeneuve failing the move at the chicane and running into the astroturf.
Later, upon deployment of a VSF, on account of Montoya coming in contact with Villeneuve, one saw Raikkonen charging through to the midfield, including making a scintillating move on Michael Schumacher on Lap 28 to move into the points up into the grid.
The equation with Raikkonen approaching the duo of Webber and Button, who gained earlier as the traffic settled post the pull-out of the safety car, seemed interesting.
On Lap 41, Raikkonen would be the biggest gainer as Webber and Button would pit, subsequently making the Finn seem confident to take charge of the proceedings.
Around lap 43, Alonso, charging ahead with marauding pace, would pass Button, as his teammate Fisichella would begin to appear weak in defending from Raikkonen who had expertly pitted to keep Webber and Button at bay.
Then, finally, on the final lap, Raikkonen, who had begun his drive from P17 had now upped his speed to come up within fighting seconds of the race-leader Fisichella.
On the main straight, Raikkonen got a view of the lead and instantly dived into the outside of the Italian driver, making an amazing final lap move to gain control of the race from which he would never lose.
#2 Brazilian Grand Prix, 2009
Ferrari's 2009 car wasn't a patch on the title-winning 2007 machinery that earned the Finn driver his only world championship.
But knowing Raikkonen's ability to push himself, he decided to persist with a recalcitrant machine a few races down the reason.
And thus came upon an epic contest in the form of the 2009 Brazilian Grand Prix, a race that shall forever mark the phlegmatic character of the Finn.
In fact, few wins personify the fighting character and grit of the Iceman as well as the Brazilian Grand Prix of 2009.
This would forever be remembered as a race where despite Raikkonen not winning the Grand Prix, forget even challenging others for any step on the podium was able to drive home his car to some valuable points courtesy a P6.
But none of that would have ever been possible had it not been for Kimi's icy resolve to continue driving undeterred, despite suffering arguably the most botched-up pit stop of his career, when during the halfway stage at the famous Interlagos, Raikkonen's race was nearly compromised.
Kimi followed Kovalainen into the pits with Raikkonen's compatriot in a McLaren suffering an unsafe release with the fuel hose still attached to the back of the car.
While he took it away, pulling away from the pits, Kimi's Ferrari, almost on the tail of McLaren, endured a sudden spray of fuel, as Raikkonen's exhaust ignited the spilt fuel into a fireball, causing a tizzy and a clear upheaval into the pits.
As a result of this "near-fatal" mishap, Kimi's front of the car suffered a slight fire and it could have well proven to be dangerous. But, instead of stopping, Raikkonen continued to drive and collected a P6 by the end of the checkered flag.
#3 Belgian Grand Prix, 2009
In a lame and otherwise unexciting season, Raikkonen returned to winning ways by registering a sterling victory, his only win of 2009 on a track where he's often celebrated as the "King of Spa".
The Belgian Grand Prix would always be remembered for Raikkonen mustering two bold moves, one on Hamilton and the other on Fisichella of Force India, but the fanciest one incredibly on the McLaren- Mercedes of Lewis Hamilton in the second half of the race to enter the top five position of the Grand Prix.
In those days where there was no turbo-powered mechanism and where the Kinetic Energy Recovery System dominated charts, Kimi's use of the KERS over Fisichella during the closing stages around Eu Rouge made the sparkling highlight of the race.
Seemingly unmoved by the ace he'd pulled, Kimi, the happy go lucky lad would be seen content on the top step of the podium, gulping away the champagne and its rewarding taste.
#4 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, 2012
One of the fanciest wins of the Iceman's career came interestingly at the time of the utter domination of Sebastian Vettel in his Red Bull and ahead of arguably more powerful cars like the Ferrari of Fernando Alonso.
But while so much about the 2012-13 era was about the constant winning shenanigans of Vettel, the sight of the finger-wagging being a constant, Raikkonen's triumph in the desert heat proved to be an exciting antithesis in the dying stages of the season.
Raikkonen, who began his Abu Dhabi challenge from P4, qualifying behind the Williams of Pastor Maldonado, looked in fine touch on Sunday and quickly picked up a couple of places passing the Red Bull of Mark Webber and the McLaren of Lewis Hamilton to take P2.
He would still trail Hamilton but seemed formidably quicker in his Lotus Renault, mounting pressure continuously till Lap 15.
But the Grand Prix wasn't devoid of any accidents. Soon, upon deployment of the Safety Car following the collision between the HRT of Karthikeyan and the Mercedes of Rosberg on Lap 9, it began to seem that a change in the leadership was on the cards.
On Lap 20, Hamilton suffered a technical fault in his gearbox and was left with no option but to park his car along the track, handing the lead of an unpredictable contest into Kimi Raikkonen's hands.
From thereon, until the final lap, Raikkonen stayed supremely cool and drove a collected race albeit some 'interruptions' on the team radio, on advice he certainly didn't seem to need.
Keeping Alonso's trailing Ferrari at bay in a clear two-way fight to the checkered flag, Raikkonen proved everyone why it made sense to "Leave him alone", for knew what he was doing.
#5 Australian Grand Prix, 2013
The last that Raikkonen won a Grand Prix would be in the season-opener at Melbourne in the 2013 season.
Proving that his last win in that Lotus-Renault in the desert heat of Abu Dhabi, the previous season wasn't a flash in the pan, Raikkonen took his Lotus to the top of the podium at the Australian Grand Prix much to the delight of his Raikkonen army; a globetrotting legion of fans captivated by Kimi's unflustered attitude to racing.
In emerging on top of a clear two-stop strategy, clinically managing his race ahead of the Ferrari of Alonso and the Red Bull of Vettel in the closing stages, Kimi proved he wasn't going to be nudged around by other superior cars on the track.
What set a clear tempo of Raikkonen's win was his impressive passing in the earlier stages of the 58-lap contest, wherein the Iceman, who started seventh on the grid, made up swift places to move up to fourth to give himself a shot at the podium.
Interestingly, when Ferrari's Alonso passed Sutil, then in Force India, to emerge behind Raikkonen, the Lotus driver upped his pace to steer away from the Ferrari's looming threat. Exhibiting excellent control of his car and in demonstrating great tyre management, Raikkonen clinched a win which clearly didn't seem to be his when the five red lights went off.
How will the Iceman perform this season? Let us know your opinions in the comments section below!
