Kimi knows what he's doing

Part of what makes F1 so popular is its variety of colourful personalities – and there’s nobody quite like Kimi Raikkonen. His cool relaxed persona has seen him given the nickname of ‘The Iceman’ amongst fans. Renowned as a man of few choice words and a dislike of media fuss, he makes sure his great talent is shown out on the race track.

Raikkonen won the world title in 2007 with Ferrari, and came close to winning in twice more in previous seasons with McLaren. He left the sport at the end of the 2009 after failing to find a drive for the 2010 season, despite being linked with all of the top four teams. You don’t drive for five years with McLaren and for three years with Ferrari without having a great deal of talent. Now he’s back, if there’s an underrated driver on the 2013 grid then he’s it.

Schumacher’s F1 return in 2010 after 3 years away promised so much, with many expecting great things from the man that dominated the sport in the early 2000s and won a record 7 world titles. This second coming proved unspectacular, with results far from the success he previously achieved. Granted the Mercedes car was not as competitive as it should have been, but Michael clearly didn’t have the pace he had before, putting a downer on the end of his legendary F1 career.

In November 2011 when Lotus announced that Kimi Raikkonen was returning to race for them for the 2012 season after two years away, it was understandable the feeling that this could be another dismal return.

Kimi was lacking a bit of pace last season, though that was as to be expected from a driver making a return after a few years away. But he made up for this with race results, finishing all 20 races last season. Nineteen of these were top-10 points finishes, including 7 podiums and a sensational race win in Abu Dhabi.

This consistency, the best of anyone on the grid, led to Kimi finishing third in the Drivers’ Championship – certainly a more than respectable result for a first season back in F1. Kimi now says he’s targeting winning the world title this upcoming season. There’s a lot of talk about who will win – will it be Vettel again? What about Hamilton or Alonso? Perhaps even Button or Webber. But in the championship battle between the teams, watch out for the dark horse of Raikkonen.

As Kimi said himself – “leave me alone, I know what I’m doing.”

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