But how so?įor it was at Monza, the scene of a famous Raikkonen versus Hamilton showdown of 2018, arguably one of the most dramatic and action-packed races in those years, that the Spaniard matched the Finn’s tally of race starts: 349. Last year at Abu Dhabi, scene of his final F1 race, the Espoo-born Raikkonen, who failed to finish the race having sustained an accident even before halfway stage, declined to dwell on the negative his response to the media for one last time was a typically understated one: “It doesn’t matter, the race is over and I’m going home.” Through it all, Kimi Raikkonen blazed a trail of sorts!Ĭold, non-manipulative, interested not in theatrics but just racing, and as technically gifted in racecraft as he was fast in it, Kimi Raikkonen established an avatar even as he never consciously went about creating one.Īt the 2022 Italian Grand Prix, yet another contest aced by Red Bull’s Max Verstappen, now a double world champion, Fernando Alonso made headlines and not everything rested with the Milton Keynes-outfit. He’d also score a win upon his famed F1 comeback with Lotus Renault at the 2012 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, would set what was then, in 2018, the fastest-ever lap in the sport’s history by blazing a 1:19:119 at Monza before claiming at COTA in the USA that very year a race win after 113 race starts, a record in itself.
In so doing, he left behind Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso, two of the greatest the sport has ever seen. He came close, not once- but twice- at taking a world title with McLaren and finally succeeded at Interlagos in 2007, winning the championship by one point for Ferrari.
He first scored a win in 2003 at Sepang, home to the Malaysian Grand Prix. He scored points on debut a fighting sixth for Sauber back at the 2001 Australian Grand Prix (having begun from thirteenth on the grid). Kimi Raikkonen is still Ferrari’s last world champion, but for how much longer will that record stay and for how long will one of F1’s most enigmatic racers stay relevant to the sport?
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