Kimi-Matias Räikkönen (; born 17 October 1979) is a Finnish racing and rally driver who competed in Formula One between and , and the World Rally Championship from to . Nicknamed "the Iceman", Räikkönen won the Formula One World Drivers' Championship in with Ferrari, and won 21 Grands Prix across 19 seasons.
Born in Espoo, Räikkönen began competitive kart racing aged 10, winning several national titles before graduating to junior formulae in 1999. He dominated the 2000 British Formula Renault Championship with Manor, prompting Sauber to sign him in Formula One for . Following several points finishes across his rookie season, he joined McLaren in , achieving his maiden podium on debut. He achieved his maiden victory at the in , as he finished runner-up to Michael Schumacher. Reliability issues with the MP4-19 saw him drop to seventh the following year, taking a sole victory in Belgium. He won seven Grands Prix as he finished runner-up to Fernando Alonso in . After a winless campaign, Räikkönen moved to Ferrari; he took six victories as he beat Alonso and Lewis Hamilton to the World Drivers' Championship by a single point. He finished third in , with victories in Malaysia and Spain. Replaced by Alonso for , Räikkönen left Formula One at the end of his campaign, where he won the .
Having debuted in rallying at the 2009 Rally Finland, Räikkönen signed with the Citroën Junior Team in the World Rally Championship for ; he took a stage win at the Rallye Deutschland. He continued in Citroën machinery as a privateer in under the ICE 1 Racing banner, finishing tenth overall in both seasons. Räikkönen returned to Formula One with Lotus in and , scoring their only victories at the 2012 Abu Dhabi and 2013 Australian Grands Prix. He re-joined Ferrari for to partner Alonso, who departed for Sebastian Vettel in , when Räikkönen took several podiums as he finished fourth in the standings. Further podiums followed in and . In —his last season with Ferrari—Räikkönen achieved his final career win at the , a record 114 races after his previous, and clinched third in the championship. He moved to Alfa Romeo in , remaining with the team through and before retiring from Formula One.
Räikkönen achieved the third-most fastest laps (46), seventh-most podium finishes (103), and third-most race starts (349)—all records for a Finnish driver, alongside his 21 victories—in Formula One history, where he still holds several records. Since his retirement, he has made one-off appearances in the NASCAR Cup Series in 2022 and 2023, and has served as team principal of Kawasaki in the Motocross World Championship since 2022.
Early life and career
Kimi-Matias Räikkönen was born on 17 October 1979 in Espoo, Finland. He had success in karting from the age of ten. His first race outside Finland was in Monaco when he was 15 years old. During the race, the steering wheel broke, but he continued, informing his mechanic by frantically waving the steering wheel in the air on the home straight. Räikkönen's next Monaco race was also memorable; he was thrown on the wrong side of the safety fence in a collision but lifted his kart back onto the track and continued to race, finishing third. In 1998 he was first in the Nordic Championship at Varna in Norway. In 1999, Räikkönen placed second in a round of the European Formula Super A championship for the Dutch PDB Racing Team. He also competed in the Formula Ford Euro Cup. By the age of twenty, he had won the British Formula Renault winter series of 1999, winning the first four races of the year. In 2000, he won seven out of ten events in the Formula Renault UK Championship. Combined, over these two series of Formula Renault, he won 13 out of 23 events – a 57% win rate.
Formula One career
Sauber (2001)
On the basis of these results, Peter Sauber gave the Finn a test with the Sauber Formula One team in September 2000 at the Mugello Circuit.Tremayne, David. "Cool as Ice: Kimi Raikkonen". Formula One Magazine (official). December 2003. Page 63. On just the second day of the test, Räikkönen lapped half a second quicker than regular driver Pedro Diniz. Sauber had kept the news of his test quiet to distract potential competitors, internally referring to Räikkönen as "Eskimo". After further tests in Jerez and Barcelona, Sauber signed Räikkönen for the season. Although some critics (including FIA president Max Mosley) voiced concerns over granting an F1 Super Licence to such an inexperienced driver, he was nevertheless granted his licence from the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA) after a performance delivery promise by his team boss, Peter Sauber. He scored a championship point in his debut at the 2001 Australian Grand Prix.
Räikkönen had a solid debut year, achieving four points-scoring finishes and eight finishes in the top eight. Completing the year with nine points, he helped Sauber to what was then its best result of fourth place in the Constructors' Championship.
McLaren (2002–2006)
Räikkönen, long linked to Sauber's engine supplier Ferrari, sufficiently impressed McLaren to earn a race seat in Ron Dennis's team for , taking the seat left vacant by double-world champion and mentor Mika Häkkinen. The decision to choose Räikkönen over his Sauber teammate Nick Heidfeld was heavily influenced by Häkkinen, who repeatedly told Ron Dennis "If you wanna win, get the Finn."
2002 Räikkönen scored a third-place podium finish in his first race with McLaren at the 2002 Australian Grand Prix. He came close to winning his first Grand Prix in France but went off track with a handful of laps to go because of oil on the circuit.Tremayne, David. "Cool as Ice: Kimi Raikkonen". Formula One Magazine (official). December 2003. Page 58. He finished second. He finished the season in sixth place, with 24 points and four podiums, and McLaren achieved a solid third place in the Constructors' Championship.
2003: Maiden win At the season-opening , Räikkönen qualified 15th. In the race he took the lead before being caught speeding in the pitlane, finishing third. In Malaysia, Räikkönen won his first race. During the next round in Brazil, Räikkönen was declared the winner after the race was stopped on lap 55. According to the rules the winner is decided by the race order as of two laps before the race stopped, i.e. lap 53. However a week later, evidence emerged that Giancarlo Fisichella was on lap 56 when the race stopped, therefore the winner was decided by the order at lap 54. This granted the win to Fisichella.
Räikkönen finished second at Imola. At the , Räikkönen made a mistake in qualifying and had to start from the back of the grid. At the start of the race, he collided with Antônio Pizzonia, causing Räikkönen to retire. He successfully defended second position from Rubens Barrichello in Austria. He lost in Monaco by less than a second. Starting from the pitlane in Canada after he went off track during qualifying, Räikkönen finished sixth.
At the , Räikkönen took pole, and controlled the race from the start until his engine failed on lap 25. Title rival Michael Schumacher finished fifth taking 4 points advantage from Räikkönen. Räikkönen finished fourth in France behind Schumacher, but finished one point ahead of him with a third-place finish at the . Räikkönen failed to finish the after being involved in an accident at the first corner with Ralf Schumacher and Rubens Barrichello. Räikkönen finished second at the next race, the .
Before the , the FIA were tipped-off by rivals Ferrari about an illegality in the Michelin tyre's tread width. Michelin were forced to bring in narrower tyres. Räikkönen eventually finished fourth in the race, losing five championship points to race winner Michael Schumacher.
Räikkönen took pole at the , but Michael Schumacher won the race with Räikkönen finishing second. After qualifying eighth in Japan, Räikkönen finished second while Michael Schumacher just slipped into the points to win his sixth World Championship. Montoya's retirement during the race also meant that Räikkönen finished second in the championship, just two points behind Schumacher. The team also narrowly lost second place in the Constructors' Championship, finishing third, two points behind runners-up Williams, and 12 points behind Ferrari.
2004
The season began with Räikkönen only claiming a single point in the first seven races. His McLaren, especially the Mercedes engine, suffered repeated breakdowns, allowing him to complete just two of the first seven events. After seven rounds Räikkönen had only one point to Michael Schumacher's 60. In Canada, Räikkönen made five pit-stops but was classified fifth since the Williams-BMWs and the two Toyotas were disqualified. At the , Räikkönen finished sixth.
At the , McLaren rolled out the new MP4-19B. Räikkönen finished seventh behind his team-mate, David Coulthard. At Silverstone, Räikkönen took pole and went on to finish second behind Michael Schumacher. The McLarens qualified on the second row of the grid in Germany. Räikkönen lost his rear wing on lap 13 of the race while following race leader Michael Schumacher. He retired again from the after starting from 10th place on the grid, again on lap 13. At the , Räikkönen qualified 10th, but took the lead on lap 11 and held onto it to take McLaren's only win of the season. He also took the fastest lap. The next weekend at Monza, Räikkönen again retired on lap 13, this time owing to electrical problems. At the next race in China, he finished third, only 1.4 seconds behind race winner Rubens Barrichello.
At the , Räikkönen was shunted by Felipe Massa on the first lap of the race, which caused him handling problems. He finished sixth, 2.5 seconds behind Fernando Alonso. At the last race of the season, the , he battled Montoya for the lead and finished one second behind him in second. Räikkönen ended the year seventh, with 45 points, only one behind sixth placed Jarno Trulli, and four podiums.
Despite the disappointment of the 2004 season, Räikkönen was still seen as one of the rising stars of the sport. Many pundits predicted 2005 to be filled with great on-track battles from a resurgent team. He was also referred to by Ross Brawn and Jean Todt as a driver whom Ferrari might consider in the future. In early November 2004, Räikkönen announced his intention to create a racing team with his manager Steve Robertson, to be entitled Räikkönen Robertson Racing (otherwise known as "Double R"), which would compete in Formula Three in 2005.
2005: Runner up to Alonso
Räikkönen's start to the season was less than perfect. The car was reported to be too soft on its Michelin tyres, with the result that it was not generating enough heat to post competitive qualifying times. The best qualifying position that a McLaren driver could manage in the first three races was sixth. Räikkönen compounded this by stalling on the grid of the first race of the season, the , and ending the race with just a point. He looked set for a podium in Malaysia until a faulty tyre valve failed and dropped him out of the points. Bahrain saw him achieve his first podium of the season with a third place behind Renault's Alonso and the Toyota of Jarno Trulli.
Räikkönen then achieved three consecutive poles in San Marino, Spain, and a win after a safety car strategy call by Neil Martin at Monaco. An almost certain win was denied at Imola after a driveshaft failure, but he won the other two races, putting him within 22 points of leader Alonso. He registered strong, comfortable wins at Barcelona, beating Alonso, and at Monte Carlo, never dropping his lead in both races. At the , Räikkönen flat-spotted his right front tyre, causing his suspension to fail while he led on the final lap, handing a further ten points to his rival Alonso. This incident, in part, resulted in a rules clarification allowing teams to change a flat-spotted tyre without punishment.