Formula One specialist journalist Heikki Kulta has written for the Finnish daily Turun Sanomat for 30 years and has covered 220 Grand Prix races. He has had a good working relationship with all the Finnish F1 drivers, beginning with the first one: Leo Kinnunen. Heikki Kulta, a 52-year-old father of three daughters, has written books in Finnish about the country’s world champions: Mika Hakkinen and Kimi Raikkonen.
In his book “Kimi, Ferrari & uskomaton mestaruus”, which was published in 2007, Heikki Kulta reports on seven-time Formula 1 world champion Michael Schumacher’s thoughts and impressions about Kimi Raikkonen, as the Finnish driver had just won the title with the Maranello team:
“When thinking about Kimi, I remember well two moments” – Michael Schumacher was quoted as saying – “The one when he crossed the finish line in Brasil to become world champion was for sure the stronger of both. I mean, “strong” is even a weak word for it. It was the unthinkable thing to do, and he did it, just like that. I do not know what he felt, but I definetely could not believe my eyes and felt more than happy. You can only shake your head in disbelief and congratulate Kimi to have made the impossible possible. The other moment I remember well was that cold late-season test-day in Mugello some years ago, when this young kid came up and drove a test for Sauber. It was by accident that I was testing that same day for Ferrari, and at the end of the day I called Jean (Todt) to tell him he had to have an eye on that boy. The times he did were really impressive for a rookie he was. Well, the rookie became world champion. In a way, you could already see it then. Nice to know he did it with Ferrari. I am happy for him. Congratulations!” – Michael Schumacher said.
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