When looking back on his final season with Scuderia Ferrari, Kimi Raikkonen can certainly hold his head high. Perhaps the stand-out moment of his farewell season with the Scuderia was the Finn winning an action-packed United States Grand Prix, which saw him end a wait of 2044 days and 113 races without a victory. But before his Austin exploits, he played a pivotal part in another record-breaking weekend, this time on Ferrari’s home turf in Monza. At the time, it was Juan Pablo Montoya who held the record for the fastest lap in F1 history, but Kimi ended the Colombian’s 14-year reign with a blistering lap of his own to secure pole (watch video).
That time of 1:19.119s in Italy could well tumble again this season, though. With changes to the cars, including simpler rear wings, the 2019 challengers are set to be the fastest F1 has ever seen.
Total races finished in the points
But there also is another impressive performance which Kimi can achieve in 2019. Much has been made of Raikkonen’s return to the Sauber team that gave him his F1 debut back in 2001 – and whether he’ll be able to continue their recent development progress this season. Securing points will be an important part of that mission and having secured 17 top-ten finishes for Scuderia Ferrari in 2018, the 2007 Formula One world champion will now be looking to repeat those exploits with the Swiss team this term. But if he wants to break Michael Schumacher’s record of 121 races in the points, he’ll have to go one better this year, with the Iceman needing 18 top-ten results to leap above the German.
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