Motorsports Modial

Roundy Round Raikkonen I Reckon

 

AP Photo/Lehtikuva/Juha Sorri

Kimi Matias Raikkonen. The Espoo enigma. The kid who did less than two dozen motor races before making and scoring a point on his Grand Prix debut. That was something even Senna and Schumacher could not achieve. Man of little talk with mega racing talent. One of the few who took the fight to Schumacher. And would have been the first to dethrone Ferrari’s Red Baron had he enjoyed a little more reliability on his McLaren.

Raikkonen rides his own trail. When Pele presented a trophy at Interlagos in 2006 before his final race to Schumacher, who had announced his retirement from F1 at Monza after winning the Italian GP, Raikkonen was the only driver missing from the ceremony. When Martin Brundle saw and asked where he was, the BBC audience was treated to a classic Kimi one liner, “I was having a shit”.

His lifetime goal was achieved at same location the following year, thanks in part to the season long extra efforts of the McLaren duo to out-do each other. But Raikkonen did stage a great comeback to steal the crown, winning three of the last four races and overhauling a 17-point deficit before the final two races.

His lack of motivation, zero interest in PR and lackluster performance after winning the title forced Ferrari to buy out his contract.

Raikkonen rapidly found a place with Red Bull and Citroen in rallying, second nature to Finns. Though the highlights here have been high speed crashes. The world of Loeb and Latvala has not been a walk in the park for the talent who so impressed Peter Sauber the first time he tested an F1 car that the gentle Swiss team owner was willing to part company with sponsor, the very same sponsor who won the season opener last Sunday in Australia.

Sauber remembers his first meeting and experience on that test day with Raikkonen, noting the young driver wanted ‘his space’.

Kimi is now craving for new space.

The world of NASCAR. Where his ex-teammate and another mega-talent, Juan Pablo Montoya, has found comfort and loads of corn dogs.

Kimi will keep on Truckin. From Martinsville to Sears Point. Not bad after winning in Formula 1 from Monte-Carlo to Sepang.

–         Nasir Hameed

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