Today Kimi Raikkonen, the 2007 World Champion and until recently one of the most popular racers in the world, celebrates his 45th birthday, and of course I would like to sincerely congratulate him.
He appears to be celebrating with his family, as evidenced by the photo his wife Minttu shared on social media, but the McLaren team, with whom he won his first nine (out of 21) Formula 1 victories, decided to remind everyone to the most important achievements. from that period of his illustrious career.
Kimi made his championship debut with Sauber, but at the end of 2001 Mika Hakkinen, a two-time world champion, announced his intention to sit out the following season, allowing his younger compatriot to move to the famous British team.
As they joked at the time, McLaren signed a contract with Kimi not to change the flag of Finland to another flag, for example on the body of the car and on the information board shown to the drivers when they drive along the road. start-finish line.
But the real reason, of course, was different: in one season, 22-year-old Finn proved that he is an incredibly fast racer, and also amazed everyone with his constant equanimity, no matter what was happening around him.
During his five-year partnership with McLaren, Kimi achieved nine wins, eleven pole positions and stood on the podium a total of 36 times, including twice in 2003 and 2005, making him vice world champion. The Finn’s career gradually gained momentum, as did his popularity among fans around the world.
McLaren decided to recall Kimi Raikkonen’s five most notable successes in British team cars.
Malaysian Grand Prix 2003
This is Kimi’s first victory in Formula 1 and it was his 35th race in the world championship. In the previous 17-round season, Kimi only saw the checkered flag eleven times due to technical problems, but never finished lower than 4th place. It was clear that he had to open the scoring for victories in 2003, and this happened in Sepang already in the second phase of the season. Significantly, he was almost 40 seconds ahead of his nearest rival, Ferrari driver Rubens Barichello.
Belgian Grand Prix 2004
Over the course of his career, Raikkonen achieved four victories at the classic Spa circuit, which he thoroughly enjoyed and suited his racing style perfectly.
In the 2004 Belgian Grand Prix he started from 10th position, but after the first lap he reached 5th place, then drove the race perfectly, without making a single mistake, and won, although the McLaren MP4/19 was far from the fastest car in that championship.
Monaco Grand Prix 2005
Kimi started from pole position, which is half the battle on this street circuit, and by lap 20 he had created a five-second lead over Fernando Alonso, but after that events became somewhat unpredictable. Due to a collision between David Coulthard and Michael Schumacher, the race was neutralized by the appearance of the safety car and many went to the pits, but Kimi chose to stay on track.
After the restart he completed 14 great laps, bringing his lead to 35 seconds, before pitting and returning to the track as the leader. Ultimately he won and finished the race almost 14 seconds ahead of his closest pursuer.
Japanese Grand Prix 2005
Kimi probably achieved his best victory on October 9, 2005. Qualifying took place on a track drenched in autumn rain and did not go well – as a result, Raikkonen started from a distant 17th position.
The track in Suzuka is quite narrow, overtaking is not easy, only really brave drivers who can drive with extreme precision can do this. This is what has always distinguished Kimi: after the first lap he was 12th, after which he began methodically weaving his way through traffic.
By the time of the first pit stop he had reached 2nd position, before the second visit to the pits he was already the leader, but returned to the track 6 seconds behind Giancarlo Fisichella, the Renault driver, when 8 laps remained were going to the finish. Naturally, Kimi overtook the Italian and pulled off an absolutely fantastic overtake in the first corner of the final lap, to the enthusiastic roar of the stands.
Bahrain Grand Prix 2006
Two teams dominated that year: Ferrari and Renault. But Kimi reached the podium six times, including a third-place finish in Bahrain, which hosted the first round of the season. But he only started 22nd after a rear suspension failure in qualifying, but already on the first lap he gained 9 places.
He covered the distance with a single pit stop, even though most of his rivals changed tires twice, but the Finn demonstrated not only his driving skills, but also his ability to look after his tires.
Of course, there were many more great moments in the career of Kimi Raikkonen, especially during the period of cooperation with Ferrari, in whose car he won the title in 2007, but the Scuderia decided to limit itself to a congratulatory poster, and Alpine, it seems pointed out that he forgot to congratulate the Finnish racer, although he achieved a few victories in cars with Renault engines.
F1News.ru would like to join all the warm words addressed to the great driver who participated in Formula 1 for 19 seasons, and all this time we, together with millions of fans, rejoiced in his successes and, to be honest are, a little angry because of his failures. Even though this is all in the past, we remember everything as if it were yesterday.
Kiitos, Kimi! No!..
Source: F1 News
I am Christopher Clyde, an experienced journalist and content writer with a passion for sports. I have been writing about Formula 1 news for the past five years and am currently employed as an author at athletistic.com, one of the top sports websites in the US.
