The Curious Case of Kimi Raikkonen

This week, former world champion Jacques Villeneuve has come out and said that, in his sagely opinion, Kimi Raikkonen was not a deserved recipient of the title that he secured four years ago. As I read this, the words 'pot', 'kettle' and 'black' all immediately sprang to mind. How fortuitous was it for Villeneuve that he made his F1 debut for the absolute dominant team in the form of Williams, and that his teammate to whom he lost the championship, Damon Hill, was given the boot by Sir Frank at the end of the year and consigned to the uncompetitive Arrows for the following season?

On the other hand, Raikkonen was a driver of truly exceptional ability. You could argue that he 'lucked in' to his title as Villeneuve suggests, but the fact of the matter is that Raikkonen won the two closing races of the 2007 season – that the wheels came off Lewis Hamilton's title challenge at the same time shouldn't detract from Raikkonen's achievements, else one could rewrite the entire list of champions had luck not intervened. Perhaps Villeneuve would like to contend Sebastian Vettel was lucky last year that Fernando Alonso got held up by Vitaly Petrov at Abu Dhabi? Or that Lewis Hamilton was lucky in 2008 that Timo Glock couldn't quite keep him at bay through the final bend of Interlagos? Or even, God forbid, that he was lucky that Michael Schumacher drove into his sidepod at Jerez instead of re-grouping and taking the race lead back?

Had it not been for his 2007 title, Raikkonen would have surely been up there with Stirling Moss and Gilles Villeneuve among the ranks of the best drivers to have never won the title. His two near misses in 2003 and 2005 strengthen this assertion, in much the same way Nigel Mansell was thrice the bridesmaid before finally becoming the bride in 1992. That said, the Finn's sub-par form when it came to his title defence remains something of a mystery, and he appears to be amidst a period of soul-searching with his forays into rallying and NASCAR. Still, it was a huge loss to F1 that, at the end of 2009, Raikkonen decided to call time on a sparkling career that yielded 18 wins, 62 podiums and 579 points, a pretty staggering figure in old money.

The 21-year-old joined the midfield Sauber team in 2001 on the sole strength of a dominant Formula Renault campaign, with only a total of 23 car races to his name. Whilst he didn't upstage teammate Nick Heidfeld, he performed exceptionally for somebody of such little experience. When Mika Hakkinen announced his sabbatical (which later became full-blown retirement) at the end of the season, Raikkonen was selected as the man to fill the breach at McLaren. His points tally may not have been quite as impressive as that of new teammate David Coulthard in 2002, but he did come within an oil slick-induced error of winning his first race at Magny-Cours.

Already being touted as one the fastest men in the sport, Raikkonen's excellent 2003 season saw him come within just two points of beating Schumacher to the championship. He took his debut win at Sepang and racked up a further nine podiums, outscoring Coulthard by a hefty 40 points. The horrendous unreliability of McLaren's 2004 challenger all but excluded Raikkonen from the reckoning that year, but in 2005, he took seven wins en route to another near miss, this time behind Alonso. He nonetheless saw off a challenge from new teammate Juan Pablo Montoya, who after a disappointing first half of 2006 would suddenly defect to NASCAR.

Conversely, a winless '06 season for Raikkonen would lead him to not forsake the sport, but merely his team as he signed for McLaren's arch-rivals, Ferrari, for 2007. Schumacher's retirement had left a vacancy at the famed Italian team, and the partnership immediately gelled as Raikkonen took the chequered flag on his debut for the Scuderia in Australia. However, the consistency of then-rookie sensation Hamilton meant Raikkonen trailed the McLaren pilot by 17 points with just 20 left to play for prior to the final two events. All Raikkonen could do was win on both occasions and hope circumstances would go his way. They did, and that was all she wrote.

With the number one plate embossed on the nose of his Ferrari, Raikkonen was odds-on favourite to scoop his second crown in 2008. With two wins in the first four races, things were looking rosy, but from that point onwards, the 'Iceman' strangely went off the boil. While teammate Felipe Massa went on to rack up another five wins from that point onward, Raikkonen's form was erratic at best. He failed to win again that season, indeed registering six non-scores which served to rule him out of championship contention. Only a late spate of podiums rescued third place in the standings behind Hamilton and Massa from BMW's Robert Kubica.

With the wholesale rule changes coming into force for 2009, the formbook was thoroughly shredded as Ferrari and McLaren began the season as midfield cannon fodder, whilst Brawn GP (née Honda) and Red Bull out of nowhere became the teams to beat. This meant that the first half of the season bore a paltry ten points for Raikkonen, though things picked up thereafter as he went on to score an additional 36 points, including his final career win at Spa (a track where he had recorded three other victories). This elevated him to sixth place in the championship behind the two Brawns, Red Bulls, and a similarly resurgent Hamilton.

By then, it had already been announced that Raikkonen would depart the team at the end of the season to be replaced by Alonso. Speculation linked the Finn to rejoining McLaren alongside Hamilton, becoming a part of the Mercedes buyout of the Brawn team or even being lured by a big-money offer from Toyota before they declared their departure from competition. None of these came to fruition though, and instead Raikkonen decided to turn his hand to rallying by signing for the Citroen Junior Team for 2010.

Thus far, his results have been solid rather than spectacular, having had a best finish of fifth after a year-and-a-half of asking. The axing of Citroen's junior squad for this year has forced Raikkonen to continue under his own 'Ice 1' banner, and it's unclear whether his rallying adventure will continue beyond this year. Should he decided to give it up, it's anybody's guess as to what he'll do next; a return to F1 now seems extremely unlikely, particularly after he last year angrily rejected suggestions by the Renault team that they had been in contact over a potential drive for this season. He has recently dabbled in NASCAR, having completed one third-tier and one second-tier race at Charlotte Motor Speedway, but as of the time of writing, he seemingly has no plans to do any more than that.

At age 31, Raikkonen is the same age as Jenson Button and just one year older than Alonso, meaning he is far from past it, unlike a certain French-Canadian driver mentioned earlier in this article. He still has time on his side to explore any one of several different motorsport avenues: IndyCar, Le Mans and Touring Cars all potentially beckon for the man who remains Finland's finest current racing driver. Whatever he tries next, there's little doubt that he has the potential to excel at any discipline to which he should apply himself. The world has certainly not seen the last of Kimi Raikkonen.