| To reach the highest level of motorsports as a | | | | In 2007, he took a car inferior to the McLaren |
| driver, you have to have incredible talent and a will to | | | | Mercedes and managed to win the driver's |
| drive yourself to the top. At least that is the case so | | | | championship in the last race with a lot of help from |
| long as we are not talking about Kimi Raikkonen. | | | | an erratic Lewis Hamilton. Having sown up his first |
| If people are asked to discuss the most skilled | | | | title, he was expected to dominate in 2008 as it was |
| drivers in the last 20 years in Formula One, the list is | | | | generally believed Ferrari would close the gap to |
| fairly small and simple to come up with. At the top of | | | | McLaren. Well, the team did, but it was Raikkonen's |
| the list is Michael Schumacher. Fernando Alonso | | | | teammate that came to the forefront and just lost |
| certainly comes second. Juan Pablo Montoya had his | | | | the title in the last race. |
| moments. Lewis Hamilton is the new kid on the block. | | | | As poor performance after poor performance was |
| For all their talent and success, however, not one of | | | | racked up by Raikkonen in 2008, many blamed the |
| these drivers has more skill then Kimi | | | | car. The theory was the car simply did not fit his |
| Raikkonen...when he is motivated. | | | | driving style. There was one rather large problem |
| A hockey coach once gave a rather famous quote | | | | with this theory. Raikkonen would plod around the |
| when asked why he had traded a high draft pick for | | | | course for the first seventy percent of the race. |
| a veteran player. He said, "High draft picks have a | | | | With 10 to 15 laps left, he would suddenly wake up |
| habit of becoming bartenders." This is rarely the case | | | | and start driving like a bat out of hell. He set the |
| in motorsports. You have to be motivated because | | | | fastest lap in 10 races! This pattern repeated race |
| there are so few seats available. Every so often, | | | | after race after race. |
| however, one driver bucks this system and Kimi | | | | Perhaps the most amazing thing to come out of |
| Raikkonen is that driver. | | | | 2008 was the news Raikkonen would drive for |
| Kimi Raikkonen is known as the "Ice Man" and drives | | | | Ferrari in 2009. Then word leaked that Raikkonen had |
| for Ferrari. He is an enigma to pretty much anyone | | | | merely exercised a clause in his contract. Given the |
| but himself. He can drive with such sheer ability that | | | | current financial crisis, Ferrari appears to be willing to |
| he can dominate practically any race. His first race | | | | give him another year to get his act together. From |
| with the iconic Ferrari team? He almost through away | | | | the brave faces you see on the team, one gets the |
| a win because he got bored driving into a chicane! | | | | feeling they don't expect much and are completely |
| By now, the contrasts of Raikkonen are well known. | | | | mystified by the "flying Fin". |