Kimi Raikkonen (photo below) is a famous race car driver from Finland. Pilot of Formula 1. In 2003 and 2005, he ranked second in the world championship. And in 2007 he became a champion. He is a member of the Ferrari team. This article provides a brief biography of the rider.
Carier start
Kimi Raikkonen was born in 1979 in the city of Espoo (Finland). Even in childhood, the boy showed excellent results in karting. The acquired skills helped him to take 2nd place in the Formula Super A championship in 1999. A year later, Formula Renault obeyed a talented young man, where Kimi became the champion.
Formula 1
It is clear that such results were noticed by representatives of the most prestigious car races - Formula 1. In 2000, Peter Sauber invited Raikkonen to join his team. And officially, Kimi began racing in 2001. Thanks to the success of the young man, the Swiss team took fourth place in the Cup of designers.
The success of the talented newcomer was noted by Ron Dennis - the owner of McLaren. He decided to lure the Finnish pilot into his team. And at the end of 2001, Kimi Raikkonen became the second racer, replacing Mika Hakkinen, who completed her career in this post. Until 2006, the Finnish pilot spoke only for the McLaren. During this time, he showed all his strengths and was able to compete even with the famous Schumacher.
Ferrari
In 2006, Michael ended his career, and the Ferrari was left without a main pilot. Kimi has become 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, which allowed the pilot to take the first line of the overall standings.
WRC
In 2010, Raikonnen decided to change Formula 1 to the less well-known rally series WRC. Kimi has signed a contract with Citroen Junior Tim. But a year later, unexpectedly for everyone, he took part in the American series "Nascar" and the Rally of Sweden. After that, many Kimi fans spoke about the imminent completion of a pilot's career.
Return to Formula 1
2012 pleased all Raikkonen fans, because the driver returned to Formula 1. Kimi got behind the wheel of a Lotus car. I must say that the Ferrari did not forget about the Finnish and in 2013 they offered him a two-year contract. So the pilot season 2014 began in red.
Season 2015
In the new season, four-time world champion Sebastian Vettel became Kimi's partner . Pre-season tests showed that Ferrari was able to refine the engine and get closer in performance to the motors of the Mercedes team. If we look at the performances themselves, then both Ferrari pilots are consistently among the top ten Formula 1 pilots.
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 Robertson Raikkonen Racing team base is located in English Woking, near McLaren. In 2005 and 2006, it included Bruno Senna, who was the nephew of the legendary Ayrton.
The team managed to achieve significant success in 2006, when Mike Conwell took first place in the British championship. He also managed to win the Macau Grand Prix.
Character and hobbies
Kimi Raikkonen, whose growth is equal to 175 centimeters, is considered one of the most calm and unflappable racers. He very accurately knows how to calculate tactics and strategy on any track. For such qualities, the media called him "an ice man", and some journalists compare Raikkonen's driving style with the style of the legendary Nika Lauda.
Kimi likes to sleep, so team members often have to wake the pilot before the start. According to numerous rumors, half an hour before his first race in Formula 1, Raikonnen was still asleep. Participating in the Top Gear program as a guest star, Kimi confirmed this information.
In addition to racing, Raikonnen loves hockey, which he plays quite well. The pilot also enjoys snowboarding and cycling. Participates in races on snow motorcycles and often wins them. In addition, the pilot loves strong drinks and is a smoker.
Personal life
From 2004 to 2013, Kimi Raikkonen was married to Jenny Dahlman (Finnish model). He lived with his wife on the island of Kaskisaari in a huge house with an area of over 500 square meters. The rider 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. He acquired the latter for 3 million euros and invested another 2 million in restoration.
Now Kimi's common law wife is Minttu Virtanen. In early 2015, the couple had a son, Robin.
Interesting Facts
In an interview with Racing Line magazine, Kimi Raikkonen, whose biography was presented in this article, spoke about his first car. It was a Russian Lada. They found her with her father in a landfill car and started recovery. After fixing Kimi painted the “Lada” in black. According to the rider, it was a good car that almost never broke.