Finland, home of world famous architect Alvar Aalto and some of his works..... and thats it, outside of motorsport. In the autoworld Finland is home to the 1000 Lakes Rally, the most gifted set of drivers, a collective set of men called the Flying Finns.
The listing includes:
Marcus Gronholm [2 times WRC champion and still racing]
Hannu Mikkola [1 WRC championship]
Tommi Makinen [4 WRC championships as well as having a car named after him]
Keke Rosberg [1 F1 championship and establisher of future Flying Finn Mika Hakkinen]
Juha Kankkunen [4 WRC championships]
Ari Vatanen [1 WRC championship, 4 Paris Dakar wins and 1 Pikes Peak win]
Mika Hakkinen [2 F1 championships and eternal respect from Michael Schumacher]
Kimi Raikkonen [1 F1 championship]
Markku Alen [1 WRC championship]
Timo Salonen [1 WRC championship]
this list can go on forever to include people like Henri Toivonen [the Race of Champions was established in his memory] and Heikki Kovalainen [the only finn currently in F1] but for purposes of coolness I shall only feature Kimi.
The start
I started watching F1 near the end of the 2003 season, as such I really didn't have a knowledgeable base as to which team or driver to cheer for. Fortunately I had a lot of reading material, specifically Autocar magazines. During 2003-2004 a lot of emphasis was based around the 10 year anniversary of the death of Ayrton Senna as well as [seeing that Autocar is British] up and coming star, Jenson Button. So naturally for the 2004 season, I'd follow Jenson Button, but I needed a secondary driver to follow, just in case. Looking back at the Senna articles, I had to narrow down my criteria for the next person I should follow.
1) He was Brazilian [the only Brazilian racing competitively in F1 at that time was Barichello, and he was racing for the dominant Ferrari's so that was too easy of a choice]
2) He raced for McLaren, Williams, Toleman and Lotus [seeing that Williams and McLaren were still active and competitive I chose I driver from each team, Kimi Raikkonen from McLaren and Juan Pablo Montoya from Williams]
So I had 3 drivers to watch for going into 2004.
Kimi Raikkonen had a lot going for him, he was young and instantly put into a good seat at McLaren replacing fellow Finnish legend, and arc nemesis of Michael Schumacher, Mika Hakkinen. Just like Mika, Kimi was quiet and had an even funnier accent, he was also to the point, sorta emotionless and just plain chill. This attitude earned him the nickname "iceman"
McLaren
Back to the 2003 season and Kimi Raikkonen was right on the tail of then 5 time world champion, Michael Schumacher, unfortunately he finished 2 points behind him to take the second spot. Ever since then I always felt this heavily accented Finn deserved a championship.
In 2004 despite a win or two, his season was scarred with McLaren reliability issues causing him to end up a disappointing 7th in the driver's championship. The most famous of these failures was during the German GP when while in 3rd, his spoiler just magically departed causing to lose grip and crash.
2005 was no better, although his driving was much more impressive, considering how crappy his car was, the McLaren still let him down. Despite qualifying well, his McLaren often exploded causing him causing him to go to the back of the grid and drive his balls off to get a proper spot. The most painful of these to watch was the German grand prix. After leading the entire race, he got a flat spot on his tire with 15 laps to go, which slowed him down slightly, Raikkonen decided to risk it out and on the first corner of the last lap his entire right suspension went kaboom and sent him straight into the wall. Despite all the failures and kabooms, Raikkonen either went fast or broke, this lead him to an impressive 2nd in the driver's championship.
2006 just saw no hope, no wins, numerous DNFs and the rise of Ferrari vs Renault saw Kimi in the dark. Despite this the future looked bright, Michael Schumacher was retiring and there was an empty seat at Ferrari. Kimi signed a 3 year contract and hopes of success was bright. At the last race of the season in Brazil, when asked about his presence during Pele's speech to Schumacher [the man he was replacing] he calmly/mockingly answered "I was having a shit." This statement went on to define Kimi's attitude for the rest of his F1 career
2007-2009 Ferrari
Kimi's stroke of luck went the other way, despite all the media attention going towards his replacement at McLaren, Lewis Hamilton, he started off 07 with a win at Australia. The season continued with him receiving only 2 DNFs. At the final race of the season, he was 3rd in points by an a significant 7 points, the championship seemed all but certain for either McLaren teammates, Lewis Hamilton or Fernando Alonso, Kimi showed them how skilled he was by winning the race, while the technical goblins at McLaren haunted Hamiltons gearbox. Irony at best, one of the most successful racers never to win a championship, finally wins by one point, and the whole racing community is shocked.
2008 saw a stronger running from McLaren and a slow but still impressive run from Kimi. This season, Kimi became known for other stuff, such as chucking off photographers, knocking over little children, flipping the bird at other drivers and getting drunk enough to fall of a boat. He did finish 3rd overall but his teammate, Felipe Massa, got most of the glory losing to Lewis Hamilton on the last corner of the last lap of the last race by 1 point. 2009 saw Kimi just get closer and closer to laziness, the Brawns were dominating and the Red Bulls were cleaning up. The 2009 season saw Kimi get a serious amount of fast laps of the race [which accumulated to nothing] At the end of 09 he went to WRC to take a break from a series that has been cruel to him.
2010: Citroen WRC
2010 is his first season in the WRC where he races for the Citroen Junior team. Reports claim he'll be racing in WRC in 2011 as well with no return to F1 in sight. His results in WRC are impressive but still not significant, it should be noted that he is the only Flying Finn to score points in both WRC and F1. Whether he achieves success or not in WRC is up to him and if Citroen plans on bringing him to the senior team.
Is he a Flying Finn? Hell yes! Can he be mentioned in the same breath a Keke and Mika? IMHO, I think he has surpassed them. Good luck in the WRC Kimi, and don't hit down any spectators.
No comments:
Post a Comment