By: Charles Bradley, Global Editor in Chief Motorsport.com
Kimi Raikkonen’s announcement that his time in Formula 1 is soon coming to an end is no surprise – after all, he turns 42 next month. There’s a good argument that the 2007 world champion was born too late; that he’d have enjoyed much more success in the free-flowing times of his idol, James Hunt, when he could have truly been himself and let his driving do all the talking.
In his title year of 2007, I remember travelling to Maranello for Ferrari’s 60th Anniversary. His race engineer, Chris Dyer, was on my flight – and despite my best efforts to doorstep him, he had his mobile phone glued to his ear at baggage claim, chattering excitedly. Fortunately, Ferrari UK’s PR lady had sat next to him on the flight and relayed how thrilled Chris was about that week’s test at Silverstone and that the second half of the season was going to be an all-out attack. The next race was France, where Kimi led the team to a 1-2, and what transpired is epic comeback history…
Watching trackside at Monaco, Kimi twice blew me away – on the exit of the Swimming Pool (in his McLaren days) and through Rascasse (for Ferrari), where his hand speed appeared to make the car bend to his will in a way that his rivals simply couldn’t achieve.
A man of few words, perhaps it’s a shame more engineers didn’t listen to the few words that Kimi did have to say. When he got what he wanted, he was truly exceptional. |
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