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Kimi Raikkonen Profile |
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Birth Date: October 17, 1979
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Birth Place: Espoo, Finland
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Birth Name: Kimi Matias Räikkönen
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Height: 5'9"
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Biography |
Kimi Matias Räikkönen (pronounced approximately /ki-mi
ma-ti-as ræik-kø-nen/ in IPA, born October 17, 1979 in
Espoo, Finland) is a Formula One race car driver for
Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro. He is nicknamed "The Iceman". He
finished runner-up in the Formula One World Drivers'
Championship in 2003 and 2005. He previously drove for
Sauber-Petronas, in 2001, and Team McLaren-Mercedes, from
2002 until the conclusion of the 2006 season, but has signed
a 3-year deal with Ferrari from the 2007 season onwards. He
is married to Finnish model Jenni Dahlman-Räikkönen.
Räikkönen had a long line of success in karting from the age
of ten, including placing second in the 1999 European
Formula Super A championship. He also competed that year in
the Formula Ford Euro Cup, and by the age of twenty, he had
won the British Formula Renault Winter series, winning the
first four races of the year. In 2000, he dominated the
Formula Renault UK Championship, where he won seven of ten
events. After racing in the Formula Renault series later in
2000, Räikkönen had won 13 of 23 events — a 56% win rate.
On the basis of these results, Peter Sauber gave the Finn a
test with the Sauber Formula One team in September of 2000.
After further tests in Jerez and Barcelona, Sauber signed
Räikkönen for the 2001 season. However, some critics
(including FIA president Max Mosley) voiced concerns over
granting an F1 superlicence to such an inexperienced driver,
having only 23 car races to his credit. He was nevertheless
granted one and scored a championship point in the 2001
Australian Grand Prix, his maiden Grand Prix. Räikkönen was
asleep 20 minutes before his first F1 GP (It is said that he
loves to sleep - so much so that he needs to be woken up
before qualifying and races.)[citation needed]
Räikkönen is very calm, cool, and calculating in his race
strategy - prompting the nickname "the Iceman". His other
nicknames include Kimppa, Räikkä and Kimster (used by his
mechanics). Some Finns jokingly call him "Räkä", meaning
snot in Finnish. This nickname was derived from "Häkä"
(carbon monoxide in Finnish), the nickname of Mika Häkkinen.
He had a solid debut year, achieving four points-scoring
finishes and eight finishes in the top eight. Completing the
year with 9 points, Räikkönen, along with teammate Nick
Heidfeld (12 points), helped Team Sauber to its highest ever
result: fourth place in the constructors championship.
Räikkönen, long rumoured to be linked to a future Ferrari
deal, instead sufficiently impressed McLaren, earning a race
seat in Ron Dennis's team for 2002, taking the seat left
vacant by double-world champion (and fellow Finn) Häkkinen's
retirement. Criticism was levelled at McLaren for choosing
him instead of his 2001 teammate Heidfeld, who was thought
at the time to be the better of the two Sauber drivers.
After the 2006 Italian Grand Prix, while Räikkönen and
Schumacher were still on the podium, Ferrari announced that
Schumacher would be retiring from the sport. Only a few
minutes later came the announcement that Räikkönen had
signed a three-year contract with Scuderia Ferrari for the
2007-2009 seasons, after years of rumours. Räikkönen said
after the move that he was very happy with this change of
events but wished the team McLaren Mercedes the best luck in
the future. He will be the teammate of the Brazilian Felipe
Massa, who has been driving for Ferrari since 2006.
Raikkonen will now have to face the pressures of replacing
7-time World Champion Michael Schumacher at Ferrari.
Raikkonen is one of the favourites for the 2007 World
Championship along with defending double world champion
Fernando Alonso, teammate Felipe Massa and Renault's
Giancarlo Fisichella. |
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Other Information |
Drives for McLaren-Mercedes Formula 1 team.
He won his first F1 GP in Kuola Lumpur trac in Maleyesia in
2003
He brought seven of his cousins, four aunts and his 75-years
old granny, Sirkka, to watch the Hungarian GP 2001
Is the 6th Finn ever to drive in F1
Was asleep 20 minutes before his first F1 GP, but can't
remember what he dreamt about
He met Hanna (his ex-girlfriend) on a blind date |
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The real championship !!!!!