Who is Kimi Raikkonen?

Kimi Matias Raikkonen was born on October 17, 1979 in Espoo, Finland. Espoo is a city on the Southern coast of Finland sharing a boundary with Helsinki (the capital city of Finland) to its east and Vantaa to its north.

Kimi's family (mother Paula, father Matti and brother Rami - Finnish rally driver) have always supported him through his successful career as a racing driver.
Raikkonen had a long line of success in karting from the age of ten, including placing second in the 1999 European Formula Super A Championship. He also competed that year in the Formula Ford Euro Cup. By the age of 20, Raikkonen had won the Formula Renault Winter series, winning the first four races of the year. In 2000, he dominated the British Renault Championship, where he won seven of ten races. After racing in the Formula Renault Series later in 2000, Kimi had won an astounding 13 of 23 events.

Peter Sauber was very impressed by the Finn and gave him a test with the Sauber Formula One team in September 2000. After further tests in Jerez and Barcelona, Sauber signed Raikkonen for the 2001 Formula One season. Some critics, including FIA president Max Mosley, voiced concerns over granting an F1 license to such an inexperienced driver, having only 23 racing events to his credit. Nevertheless, Raikkonen was granted a super license and silenced his critics by scoring a championship point in Australia, his maiden Grand Prix.

Kimi Raikkonen was very calm, cool and calculating in his race strategy. That’s why he’s called ‘The Iceman’. The Finn had a solid rookie year, proving he was ready for Formula One Racing. He finished the season with 4 points-scoring finishes. Completing the year with 9 points, Raikkonen along with team mate Nick Heidfeld (12 points), helped Team Sauber to its highest ever result: 4th place in the Constructors’ Championship. Kimi Raikkonen earned a race seat on Ron Dennis’ McLaren Team for 2002, replacing double-world Champion Mika Hakkinen. One Finn to replace the other.

In his first race for McLaren Mercedes, Raikkonen finished 3rd in the 2002 Australian Grand Prix. Although the team suffered many Mercedes engine failures in 2002, he still managed to score 24 points and 4 podium places. Kimi came close to winning his first GP in France, but spun off on oil spilled on the Magny-Cours Circuit, he had to settle for second place. Raikkonen finished the season in 6th place, just behind team mate David Coulthard, McLaren was 3rd in the Constructors’ race.

The beginning of the 2003 season, was a tremendous success for the Finn. He reached the podium on the first six races and won his first race, the 2003 Malaysian Grand Prix. The 2003 Championship was one of the closest campaigns in years with Raikkonen still mathematically alive at the final race. But the youngster had to settle for 2nd place for Michael Schumacher.

In 2004, the McLaren of Kimi suffered repeated breakdowns, allowing him only to complete two of the first seven events. Towards the middle of the season, McLaren switched to their new MP4-19B chassis and had made a partial recovery by the end of the season. Raikkonen scored his second ever pole position at McLaren’s home ground at Silverstone and claimed his second victory at Spa-Francorchamps, Belgium. He ended the season a respectable seventh, with 45 points and four podium places.

Despite the disappointing 2004 season, Raikkonen proved in 2005 that he’s still one of the rising stars of the sport, along with Renault’s Fernando Alonso and Juan Pablo Montoya. This season, the Finn won 7 of the 19 races, but it wasn’t enough to win the Drivers’ or the Constructors’ Championship, who were both won by Fernando Alonso and Renault.

Raikkonen was married on July 31, 2004 to the 22-year-old Jenni Dahlman, the 2000 Miss Scandinavia. He has a house in his home town Espoo, Finland and one in Chigwell, England.
Kimi’s hobby’s are snowboarding and working out in the gym. One little detail about Kimi, he has a small tattoo of a smiling sun on his right wrist.

Although we don’t really know much about The Iceman, because he isn’t very open towards the media and his fans, we hear a lot of rumours and scandals about the Finnish F1 star in the tabloids.