Talent and personality
One World Championship, 21 victories, 103 podiums, and 18 pole positions. These are the cold numbers, but he, nicknamed the Iceman, cannot be described by statistics alone. Kimi Raikkonen, who turns 45 today, was a reference point in the racing world for more than one generation of fans: extreme in talent but also in missed opportunities, with a personality that was unique, much more akin to the roaring 1970s than to his contemporary colleagues.
Few words yet highly expressive in gestures and attitudes, the Finnish driver became an icon to the public precisely because of his authentically different character from everything that surrounded him throughout his career. At the same time, this trait didn’t prevent him from fully living his passion for motorsport, competing in 349 F1 Grands Prix, third all-time.
Championship and missed opportunities
On his birthday, the two most iconic teams of his career, McLaren and Ferrari, paid tribute to him on social media. At McLaren, we saw perhaps the fastest and most talented Raikkonen ever, coming close to dethroning Schumacher in 2003 and ultimately undone more by the (un)reliability of his car than by any inferiority to Fernando Alonso in 2005.
At Ferrari, Kimi Raikkonen lived two lives: he won one of the most incredible World Championships in history for how it was won – a victory that remains the last for a driver in red – and then completed the final chapter of his career with the unforgettable triumph in Austin in 2018, the roar of a lion who lives for true passions.
At the beginning and end, there was Sauber, with Lotus-Renault in between, the team known for iconic team radios and two epic victories – Abu Dhabi 2012 and Melbourne 2013 – which remained for many years the only wins not claimed by a driver in a Red Bull, Ferrari, Mercedes, or McLaren.
And we can’t forget his ventures outside of F1, from WRC to his recent foray into NASCAR. All this and much more was Kimi Raikkonen behind the wheel. Simply, Iceman.
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