Kimi Raikkonen

Who doesn’t know Kimi Raikkonen? If you like to watch Formula 1 you must know him. Kimi Raikkonen is one of The Formula 1 drivers. As a matter of fact he is one of the best. Now, Kimi joins the McLaren Mercedes team with Juan Pablo Montoya as his teammate.

Kimi Raikkonen was born on October 17, 1979 in Espoo, Finland. He started racing at the age of ten. He really showed his best. He got a second place in the 1999 European Formula Super A Championship. By the age of twenty, he had won a first place for four races in the Formula Renault Winter Series. The next year, he won seven of ten events in the British Renault Championship and made it to the podium in the other three events. Kimi also took part in three European races and won two of them.

With all of his achievements, in September 2000, Sauber Formula One team tested him at Mugello. They were really impressed with Kimi’s performance and decided to sign him up for 2001 as the teammate of Nick Heidfield. At first not everyone could accept Kimi as one of Formula One’s drivers. He was really inexperienced in driving, but Kimi proved himself with all his cool, calm, and calculating race strategy. He was a success with the Sauber Team. Kimi completed his first year with 9 points and he helped the Sauber team to fourth place in the constructors championship.

In August 2001, McLaren decided to take Kimi as its driver to replace Mika Hakkinen who comes from Finland, too. Kimi was signed by McLaren to a five year deal. So Kimi would be the McLaren driver from 2001 until 2006. In 2002, Kimi got 24 points and four podiums even though there were many engine failures for the McLaren team that year. With his teammate, David Coulthard, they gave McLaren a third place in the constructor chase.

In 2003, Kimi performed well enough. He won his first race in Malaysia and he had won a race in Brazil as well. But he just got second place in Monaco by losing to Juan Pablo Montoya. In this year Kimi was really near to his first Formula One championship. Unfortunately, he was defeated by Michael Shumacher, and he had to be satisfied with second place. Also, team McLaren got a third place that year with two points less than Williams.

In the beginning of 2004 season, Kimi’s performance wasn’t really good. He just got one point from the first four races. It was because the car’s engine was really bad that Kimi just finished two of seven events. But in the middle of the racing season, with a new engine, Kimi’s year started improving. He scored three pole positions and scored a victory in Belgium. This year, Kimi got 45 points and four podiums. He was much heralded for his skills in driving. Raikkonen was the new raising star, they said, although in the beginning his performance was quite disappointing.

Once again, Kimi started the 2005 season less than perfect. The car was not good after all. He was given penalty 10 grids more than 2 times by changing his engine before racing. That’s why his rival Fernando Alonso could reach more points than Kimi. With his engine, Kimi couldn’t perform his best that year. In the middle of the season Kimi managed to reach some podiums and earn victories in some races, but he couldn’t catch Alonso because there were too many losses. Kimi was crowned as “Driver of the Season” by F1 Racing and Autosport magazines. It proved that Kimi’s skills are really great.

Kimi Raikkonen is my hero because of his calm, cool, and kindness. That’s why some people call him the iceman. His drive to be a winner by working and struggling the way he does, shows he never gives up, despite conditions that maybe are not so good for him. He's never satisfied with second place. He said his aim is to win not to just make the podium. I love his spirit to be successful and I really want to have the same spirit.

He confronts every conditions calmly. He calculates his strategy accurately and he always works efficiently. His personality is engaging and he's always the perfect sportsman. He takes losing gracefully without blaming others. He is really my man! I hope he wins this season with his great performance.