Kimi Raikkonen - a talented racer of Formula 1

Kimi Raikkonen (photo below) - a famous racing driver from Finland. The pilot of Formula-1. In 2003 and 2005, he held second place in the world championship. And in 2007 he became a champion. He is a member of the team "Ferrari". This article presents a brief biography of the rider.

Carier start

Kimi Raikkonen was born in 1979 in the city of Espoo (Finland). As a child, the boy showed excellent results in karting. Obtained skills helped him in 1999 to take the 2 nd place in the championship of Formula A. In a year the talented young man submitted to the Formula Renault, where Kimi became the champion.

Formula 1

It is clear that such results were noticed by representatives of the most prestigious racing races - Formula-1. In 2000 Peter Sauber invited Raikkonen to his team. And officially, Kimi started racing in 2001. Thanks to the success of the young man, the Swiss team took the fourth place in the constructors' cup.

The success of the talented newcomer was noticed by Ron Dennis - owner of McLaren. He decided to entice the Finnish pilot into his team. And at the end of 2001, Kimi Raikkonen became the second driver, replacing Mika Hakkinen, who ended his career. Until 2006, the Finnish pilot spoke only for McLaren. During this time he showed all his strengths and was able to compete with even the famous Schumacher.

"Ferrari"

In 2006, Michael completed his career, and the "Ferrari" remained without the main pilot. Kimi became one of the main contenders for this vacancy. Finn was offered a very impressive contract - $ 50 million per season. But Raikkonen's debut performances were not very successful. The first half of the 2007 season turned out to be quite crumpled. But in the second Kimi gave a good result, allowing the pilot to take the first line of the overall standings.

WRC

In 2010, Raikonen decided to change the Formula-1 to the less well-known rally series WRC. Kimi signed a contract with Citroen Junior Tim. But a year later, he unexpectedly took part in the American series "Nascar" and the Rally of Sweden. After that many fans of Kimi started talking about the soon completion of the pilot's career.

Return to Formula 1

2012 year delighted all the fans of Raikkonen, because the driver returned to Formula-1. Kimi sat behind the wheel of the car "Lotus" team. I must say that in the "Ferrari" did not forget about the Finn and in 2013 offered him a two-year contract. So the season 2014 pilot started in red.

Season 2015

In the new season, Kimi's partner was the four-time world champion Sebastian Vettel. Pre-season tests showed that the "Ferrari" was able to refine the engine and approach the performance of the motors of the team "Mercedes". If we consider the performances themselves, then both pilots of the "Ferrari" consistently enter the top ten best pilots of Formula-1.

Formula-3

In 2004, Kimi Raikkonen and Steve Robertson (sports manager) founded the racing team. Performances in the championship of Formula 3 began in 2005. The base of the team "Robertson Raikkonen Racing" is in English Woking, not far from McLaren. In 2005 and 2006, it included Bruno Senna, who was a nephew of the legendary Ayrton.

Significant success was achieved in 2006, when Mike Conwell took first place in the British Championship. He also managed to win the Macau Grand Prix.

Nature and passions

Kimi Raikkonen, whose height is 175 centimeters, is considered one of the most calm and unperturbed riders. He very accurately knows how to calculate tactics and strategy on any track. For such qualities, the media was nicknamed "an ice man", and some journalists compare the style of driving Raikkonen with the style of the legendary Niki Lauda.

Kimi likes to sleep, so team members often have to wake the pilot before the very start. According to numerous rumors, half an hour before his first race in Formula-1 Raikonen still asleep. Participating in the program "Top Gear" as a guest star, Kimi confirmed this information.

In addition to racing, Raikonen likes hockey, which he plays pretty well. Also, the pilot likes to ride snowboard and bike. Participates in races on snow motorcycles and often wins them. In addition, the pilot likes strong drinks and is a smoker.

Personal life

From 2004 to 2013, Kimi Raikkonen was married to Jenny Dalman (Finnish model). He lived with his wife on the island of Kaskisaari in a huge house, an area of more than 500 square meters. The racer bought it in the 2000s for almost 10 million euros. In addition to the mansion, Kimi has a villa in Phuket (Thailand) and a chic penthouse in Helsinki, built in 1896. The latter he bought for 3 million euros and another 2 million invested in the restoration.

Now the civil wife of Kimi is Mintta Virtanen. In early 2015, the couple had a son, Robin.

Interesting Facts

In one of the interviews to the magazine "Racing Line" Kimi Raikkonen, whose biography was presented in this article, told about his first car. It was the Russian "Lada". They found her with her father in a car dump and started to restore. After repairing, Kimi painted "Lada" in black. According to the rider, it was a good car, which almost never broke.