Kimi Raikkonen
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Official Website: Kimi Raikkonen Official Website
Place of Birth: Espoo, Finland
Resides: Espoo, Finland & Chigwell, England.
Status: Single
Height: 175 cm
Weight: 62kg
Career previous to F1: 1999 Formula Renault Winter Series Champion
2000 British Formula Renault 2000 Champion
Races: 34
Wins: 0 (0.0%)
Podiums: 5 (14.7%)
Pole Positions: 0 (0.0%)
Retirements: 17 (50.0%)
Points Accumulated: 39.000
Debut: 04 Mar 2001
Last Race: 09 Mar 2003 |
View a complete listing of Kimi Raikkonen's Formula 1 results
Driver History
21 year old Finn Kimi Raikkonen surprised the world of F1 when Sauber
boss Peter Sauber announced late in 2000 that he had offered him
a race deal for the following season on provision that he was handed
the necessary superlicense.
Having competed in just 23 car races, Raikkonen becomes one of the
least experienced drivers ever to enter F1, but has put in impressive
testing performances to justify the Swiss team's faith in him.
Earlier in his career, his international results in karting were
the best ever achieved by a Finnish driver, and he went on to further
impress by winning the 2000 British Formula Renault Championship
after taking seven wins in ten races.
Although he met with opposition from F1 drivers wary of accepting
a driver on the grid with even less experience than Jenson Button
the year before him, Raikkonen proved his critics wrong.
His debut season with Sauber was sensational. He suffered the bizarre
accident at the 2001 San Marino GP of having the steering wheel
come off in his hands. By the time Mika Hakkinen told Ron Dennis
that he was thinking of taking a sabbatical in 2002, the race was
on to sign the Finn.
McLaren and Ferrari both wanted him, but Kimi was swayed by the
fact that if he drove for Ferrari he'd be a clear No.2 driver to
Schumaher while at McLaren he would be allowed to win. He finished
10th in the Drivers' Championship with 9 points, scoring 4th places
in Montreal and Austria.
His 2002 season was also electric, but an under-powered McLaren
on less than perfect Michelins meant he was rarely able to challenge
for the lead. He seemed to spend most of the season qualifying 5th.
Although he didn't outscore his team-mate Coulthard, he regularly
outqualified him.
It was only thanks to the team's very 'un-McLaren-like' poor reliability
that he didn't finish any higher than 6th place overall with 24
points. The low-point of his year coming when he led the French
Grand Prix and with two laps left to go slid wide on oil left by
Allan McNish's retiring Toyota.
Marshals had failed to put warning oil flags out and the Finn was
left with the sight of Michael Schumacher squeezing past him and
claiming his 5th world title in the process.
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