Top 5 moments of Kimi Raikkonen's F1 career

Over the years, Kimi Raikkonen has given us some of the most memorable moments in the sport. In fact, even in his first season, he came up with some gems which showed how special he was. For example, the revelation that he was sleeping half an hour before is first F1 race was astounding, as it showed that he was not even remotely nervous!

Here, we try to choose 5 of the best. Feel free to suggest other moments you may think should have been included in the comments section below.

Malaysia 2003

Perhaps the first big moment in his career would be his first win in an F1 race. In fact, this was the season when Kimi ran Michael Schumacher very close in the hunt for the Drivers’ Championship, eventually losing out by only 2 points.

But the high point of the season was his win, which was to be his only one for the season. Though he did not have a good qualifying session, starting at P7 did not prove to be a hindrance. With the accident in the first help helping him a bit, he eventually got past Nick Heidfeld. With David Coulthard having to retire, he moved up to 2nd place, 5 seconds behind Fernando Alonso.

And that’s when Kimi turned it on. Staying out 5 laps longer than Alonso, he reeled out consecutive fast laps, taking the lead from Alonso. In the end, he won with a mind blowing 39 second lead, lapping every other driver on the grid, except for the top 4! Even Ron Dennis was left wiping away tears of joy!

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Suzuka 2005

Starting at the back end of the grid is always a disadvantage. There are so many back markers that one needs to pass that the chances of getting involved in a crash are very high. Even if you don’t crash out, you would definitely be slowed down, ruining your chances of finishing the race anywhere close to the top.

But it did not matter for Kimi Raikkonen at the 2005 Japanese Grand Prix. Starting on P17, he waded through the entire grid, passing Christian Klien, Michael Schumacher and Fernando Alonso during pit stops. He continued registering multiple fast laps, and after his final pit stop, climbed up to 2nd place, just 5 seconds off the leader Giancarlo Fisichella. He did not settle for the 2nd spot, and at the end of the penultimate lap, made a sweeping turn outside of Fisichella, taking the lead in the final lap and going on to win it.

Vintage Kimi!

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Monaco 2006

When you have to retire from a race, the decent thing to do would be to go back to your paddock and talk to the engineers about what went wrong. The driver’s input helps in assessing what happened so that necessary corrections can be made for the next race.

Not Kimi!

Raikkonen was running in 2nd place in the 2006 Monaco Grand Prix and was setting a blistering pace. But Webber, running in 3rd place, had to retire, which brought out the Safety Car. Unfortunately for Kimi, the heat plates on his McLaren caught fire, ending his race as well. Instead of going back to the paddock, he went straight to his yacht to chill out with his friends!

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Australia 2007

Just because you are in a Ferrari does not necessarily mean that you will all your races, even if Michael Schumacher did win a truck load of them!

The 2007 Australian Grand Prix was Kimi’s debut race for Ferrari, and he quickly showed how fast he was going to be. He got pole position by a gap of 0.4 sec. In the race, not only did he set the fastest lap, he was so good that he only conceded the lead while he was in the pits.

His dominance in the race was such that he, by his own admission, bored and almost fell asleep in the car, causing him to run wide towards the end of the race!

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Abu Dhabi Grand Prix 2012

This was Kimi Raikkonen’s first win since his return to Formula One and Lotus’ first ever win, since their return too!

More than the drama on the track, it was Kimi’s iconic conversation with his race engineer on the radio that has become the stuff of legends!

2 titbits stand out – “Yes, yes, yes. I am doing all the tyres, you don’t have to remind me every time” when the Safety Car was out and his engineer repeatedly asked him to keep his tyres warm. The second and more iconic one was, “Leave me alone, I know what I am doing.” when once again his race engineer tried to do his job by telling him how far away Fernando Alonso was behind him!

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Edited by Staff Editor