Kimi Räikkönen
Kimi-Matias Räikkönen (born 17 October 1979 in Espoo, Finland) is a Finnish racing driver who formerly took part in the FIA Formula One World Championship. He made his debut at the 2001 Canadian Grand Prix, driving for Jordan as a stand-in to the injured James James Davies. After his retirement from Formula One he became a rally driver competing in the World Rally Championship. Räikkönen is considered by many pundits to be one of the best drivers to have not won the Formula 1 World Championship.
Formula One
2001-2002: Jordan
Kimi Räikkönen was an unfamiliar name to the racing world before the 2001 season, previously taking part in Formula Ford and Formula Renault, as well as testing for Williams in 2000. Before the season, he was announced an official test driver for Jordan, and eventually made his Formula One debut in Canada - he qualified an impressive eighth, but unfortunately for the Finn, the Honda engine inside the EJ11 expired early into the race. He made three more starts after Davies was again injured, this time at Spa. His best finishes were two 9th places in the United States and Japan.
Räikkönen resigned with Jordan for 2002 but this time, his role has been promoted to full-time driver, partnering Japanese debutant Takuma Sato. After finishing eighth in the season opener at Albert Park, "Iceman" immediately delivered, scoring two fourth places in Malaysia and San Marino, before going into a slump and failing to score points in several races with the average machinery - until he scored again at the British Grand Prix. The Finn eventually finished the season in 10th place.
2003-2004: Sauber
Räikkönen impressed so much that Peter Sauber gave him an offer he could not reject, and therefore replaced David Coulthard in Sauber for 2003, partnering the Frenchman Sébastien Bourdais. He'd become a regular points scorer in the mid part of the season and finish in 11th overall.
He'd remain with Sauber in 2004, this time being joined by highly rated Australian Daniel Melrose - whom joined the team by virtue of being in Ferrari's young driver programme. Räikkönen struggled in the shortened 2004 season, only taking a handful of points finishes compared to his teammate, who outclassed him all season.
2005-2009: Renault
Räikkönen set off for pastures new once again in 2005, this time landing himself a drive with the Mild Seven Renault F1 Team alongside pre-season favourite Fernando Alonso. He would spend the whole season fighting with his teammate, as well as the Ferraris of James James Davies and Daniel Melrose and McLaren driver Rubens Barrichello for the title, ultimately losing to Alonso by a single point.
Räikkönen would contend for the championship in 2006, Alonso having left for Honda and was replaced by rookie Loïc Duval. Again battling with the Ferrari of Davies, the pair would change hands in the lead of the championship with Räikkönen leading by the mid-season point, however his season was cut short by an accident at the Hungarian Grand Prix where he would suffer a severe neurovascular damage in the right leg and multiple fractures in the left leg. This put him out of both the rest of the 2006 and the whole of the 2007 seasons, being replaced by Nick Heidfeld.
Despite some experts doubting he could ever race again, Räikkönen would return to the sport in 2008 alongside Heidfeld. However, the Finn was evidently not the same driver he was before the accident. He only scored 1 point in the first 18 races before showing some of his old form by taking a podium on merit at the Uruguayan Grand Prix. He would finish 17th in the standings.
Heidfeld was replaced by Frenchman Romain Grosjean for 2009. The R29 was decidedly off the pace with the pair struggling to achieve anything for much of the season. However, Grosjean managed to salvage a couple of points as the season went on, and was clearly outclassing Räikkönen by this point. The Finn was sacked by the team after the Belgian Grand Prix and was replaced by Nico Hülkenberg for the rest of the season.
2010: Mercedes
Räikkönen opted to move to the new Mercedes team for the new decade, partnering reigning triple world champion Daniel Melrose, like he did at Sauber six years previously. Melrose once again had the upper hand, contending for and ultimately winning the championship while Räikkönen was perennially running in the midfield. The Finn did manage to win his first race in four years however at the Italian Grand Prix, however this was overshadowed by his refusal to follow team orders and let his Australian teammate past to take victory in aid of his championship fight. A few races later at the Brazilian Grand Prix, Räikkönen was sacked by the team and replaced by local driver Hélio Castroneves, never to be seen in Formula One again.
Formula 1 Results
| Year | Team | Chassis | Engine | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 | 31 | 32 | 33 | 34 | 35 | 36 | WDC | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2001 | Benson & Hedges Jordan Honda | Jordan EJ11 | Honda RA001E | AUS | MAL | BRA | SMR | ESP | AUT | MON | CAN Ret |
EUR | FRA | GBR | GER | HUN | BEL | ITA 14 |
USA 9 |
JPN 9 |
21st | 0 | |||||||||||||||||||
| 2002 | DHL Jordan Honda | Jordan EJ12 | Honda RA002E | AUS 8 |
MAL 4 |
SMR 4 |
ESP 9 |
AUT 7 |
MON 13 |
CAN 7 |
EUR Ret |
FRA 7 |
GBR 6 |
GER 11 |
HUN Ret |
BEL Ret |
ITA Ret |
BRA 9 |
USA 9 |
JPN Ret |
10th | 7 | |||||||||||||||||||
| 2003 | Red Bull Sauber Petronas | Sauber C22 | Petronas 03A | AUS 12 |
MAL 10 |
SMR Ret |
ESP Ret |
AUT 9 |
MON Ret |
CAN 5 |
GBR 12 |
EUR 12 |
GER 8 |
HUN 7 |
ITA 6 |
BEL Ret |
BRA 8 |
USA 10 |
JPN 10 |
11th | 11 | ||||||||||||||||||||
| 2004 | Red Bull Sauber Petronas | Sauber C23 | Petronas 04A 3.0 V10 | AUS Ret |
MAL Ret |
BHR 10 |
MON 14 |
CAN 8 |
USA 11 |
CHN Ret |
BRA 5 |
ARG 11 |
KOR C |
JPN Ret |
16th | 5 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2005 | Mild Seven Renault F1 Team | Renault R25 | Renault RS25 3.0 V10 | AUS 5 |
MAL 2 |
BHR 7 |
SMR 7 |
ESP 10† |
MON 2 |
EUR Ret |
CAN 3 |
USA DNS |
FRA 2 |
GBR Ret |
GER 5 |
HUN 2 |
TUR 1 |
ITA Ret |
BEL 1 |
BRA 3 |
URU Ret |
JPN 1 |
CHN 4 |
2nd | 91 | ||||||||||||||||
| 2006 | Mild Seven Renault F1 Team | Renault R26 | Renault RS26 2.4 V8 | BHR 1 |
MAL 2 |
AUS 2 |
BEL 2 |
EUR 1 |
SMR 2 |
MON 6 |
ESP 1 |
GBR 2 |
CAN 1 |
USA 1 |
FRA 2 |
GER 1 |
HUN Ret |
TUR INJ |
ITA INJ |
BRA INJ |
URU INJ |
JPN INJ |
CHN INJ |
2nd | 111 | ||||||||||||||||
| 2008 | ING Renault F1 Team | Renault R28 | Renault RS27 2.4 V8 | BHR 9 |
MAL 13 |
AUS 12 |
JPN 10 |
TUR 8 |
EUR 18 |
MON 12 |
CAN 13 |
USA 9 |
FRA Ret |
GBR 14 |
GER 14 |
HUN 15 |
ESP 18 |
BEL 10 |
ITA 9 |
SIN 10 |
CHN Ret |
URU 3 |
BRA Ret |
17th | 7 | ||||||||||||||||
| 2009 | Renault F1 Team | Renault R29 | Renault RS27 2.4 V8 | BHR Ret |
AUS 20 |
MAL‡ 9 |
USA Ret |
JPN 15 |
ESP 17 |
TUR 14 |
EUR 13 |
MON 18 |
GBR 14 |
IRE 12 |
GER 13 |
BEL 12 |
ITA | HUN | SIN | CHN | BRA | URU | ABU | 29th | 0 | ||||||||||||||||
| 2010 | Petronas Mercedes Team Europe | Mercedes MGP 001 | Mercedes FO 108X | BAH 1 Ret |
BAH 2 8 |
USA 1 2 |
USA 2 Ret |
JPN 1 12 |
JPN 2 12 |
AUS 1 8 |
AUS 2 Ret |
TUR 1 10 |
TUR 2 4 |
EUR 1 7 |
EUR 2 16 |
MON 1 Ret |
MON 2 Ret |
GBR 1 8 |
GBR 2 2 |
IRE 1 11 |
IRE 2 Ret |
GER 1 6 |
GER 2 8 |
ESP 1 5 |
ESP 2 4 |
ITA 1 9 |
ITA 2 1 |
HUN 1 4 |
HUN 2 2 |
SIN 1 Ret |
SIN 2 6 |
KOR 1 Ret |
KOR 2 Ret |
BRA 1 Ret |
BRA 2 |
URU 1 |
URU 2 |
ABU 1 |
ABU 2 |
9th | 166 |