Assessing greatness: Kimi Räikkönen

For a man as quiet as he is, the 2007 Formula 1 World Champion Kimi Räikkönen has been making a lot of noise with his racing in the pinnacle of motorsport for the last 19 years. Even after taking two years off and returning to the grid in 2012 with a solid but not great Lotus F1 car, he did not lose his speed and racecraft, which only shows how good is Kimi Raikkonen’s ability to throw a car around at unthinkable speeds.

Obviously, at 40 years old, many people would be thinking that the Iceman does not have much more to give to the F1 universe. However, looking at the sport as a hobby and probably not as a business and approaching it in his own particular way, it gives us the idea that he still has a lot left in the tank, even when driving not very competitive cars.

He still seems to enjoy racing, which just proves the racer spirit inside his body.

Of course, sportspersons are usually measured by their accomplishments and not if they’re having the time of their life doing what they do. So, in this article, we are about to dissect a little bit of the Finnish driver’s journey in Formula 1 and where could we position him among the greatest drivers of the 2000s and 2010s?

In terms of Finnish drivers, Raikkonen became the country’s third driver to win the Formula 1 World Championship, after Keke Rosberg in 1982 and Mika Häkkinen in 1998 and 1999. Raikkonen’s career, at least from the number’s point of view, surpassed those from Rosberg and Hakkinen, who competed in 20 seasons combined (Raikkonen is into his 18th campaign).

Regarding overall stats, Raikkonen is the most successful Finnish driver in Grand Prix racing. Finland ranks fifth among the countries with the most GP wins in F1 history with 54 and Raikkonen leads all Finnish drivers with 21 victories, just one more than the Great Hakkinen

The podium tally of the country is currently at 223, with Raikkonen providing close to half of that number (103). So, his achievements are clearly deserving of much applause, though there can always be the argument that he has shown big periods of inconsistency, especially with Ferrari in 2008 and 2014.

Talking about Ferrari, as much as he was treated as the number two driver in his second stint with the team, the Iceman remains as the team’s most recent World Champion. The 2007 title is often an overlooked fact in terms of the size of the achievement. He was able to defeat two all-time greats in a rookie Lewis Hamilton and the then-reigning two-time champion Fernando Alonso who were both driving arguably superior machinery.

Kimi Raikkonen wins 2012 Abu Dhabi F1 GP

After he returned to the sport in 2012 with Lotus and won a couple of races with the team in 2012 and 2013 —most memorably the 2012 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix—, Raikkonen’s mood started to show some signs of frustration during his first year back at Ferrari. However, from 2015 on, he was consistently on the podium and showed the great racecraft that has always been a trait of his driving.

No wins in 2015, 2016 and 2017 —despite some great performances, like starting from Pole in the 2017 Monaco Grand Prix—, and his age made him suffer some unfair pressure and there were many reports early in the 2018 season that he was past his prime and was a liability for the team. Nevertheless, during the first part of 2018, only mechanical issues and a faulty pit-stop at Bahrain prevented him from finishing on the podium in 10 of the first 12 races of the year. Which in itself shows that the speed was still there.

Then, for the second half, it was public knowledge that he would be replaced by young star Charles Leclerc, but it only made him show his best. He started from Pole Position at Monza after setting the fastest lap in the history of Formula 1 (with an average speed of 263.587 km/h) and finished second after a great fight with Hamilton in which they traded places twice in the early stages and ultimately Raikkonen tyres prevented him from winning.

A week after the race at Monza, Ferrari made the announcement of Leclerc’s rise to the big team after a year with Sauber.

Kimi Raikkonen Ferrari winner US GP F1/2018

Ultimately, Raikkonen achieved the much-awaited win at the USA, where he won in front of Max Verstappen and Hamilton in a great race. The win came a month and ten days after Ferrari announced Leclerc as Vettel’s teammate for the 2019 season and was Kimi’s first victory since the 2013 Australian Grand Prix.

A couple of podiums before leaving Ferrari put him third in the WDC in his last season with the team before moving to Sauber/Alfa Romeo.

At Alfa Romeo, he scored 43 of the team’s 57 points in the 2019 season and showed tremendous class to prove his worth as a 40-year-old racer in an intense midfield battle.

With inconsistencies, many rude answers to the media, and a rather mysterious attitude sometimes, Raikkonen’s traits are normally those from a champion. His racing, his etiquette and the respect he has earned from the paddock just prove he is an iconic figure in the history of the sport.

Of course, there have been many drivers who performed better than Raikkonen and with plenty more consistency, but the Iceman was, is and will continue to be a solid racer as long as he has the desire to do it. It is certainly fun seeing him at Alfa Romeo in a relaxed mood and only thinking about the competition and not much of the political side of the category.

Where would you put Raikkonen in terms of the best drivers from 2000 to 2020? He would easily make my top six if I had to make a ranking.

Let us know your thoughts about Raikkonen’s greatness in the comments. Do you feel he has somewhat underachieved in F1? We’ll be looking forward to reading your opinion.

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