Kimi Raikkonen, Formula 1’s most experienced driver, has called time on his career in the top flight with 349 starts to his name.
In that time he amassed 1,873 points, made 103 podium appearances, won 21 races and remains the most recent driver to won the world championship for Ferrari, in 2007. Take a look back on his career, which spanned more than two decades, in pictures.
Good stuff, some nice pictures. I have seen this pre-debut photo in the jet once maybe some years before, but I liked it by that time as well.
“A record-breaking lap at Monza gave him his final career podium in 2018”. I do not understand this caption. One of the later pictures and captions are about his last win, and last podium. In 2018 Monza he had his last pole iirc. And then, quite famously, or apparently he was used to block one of Vettel’s rivals for many laps, what quite heavily compromised his Monza GP, i hated that by that time, but other teams are doing this to some extent as well. Later on, in 2018 luckily he found some good form and came up with those final podiums, and the victory.
I have found the ending of his 2018 season quite Kim-ish, as despite of an early DNF at the last race, he kept hist 3rd placement in the championship, with 2 points ahead of Verstappen. I was just so sad to see, at the DNF, that he almost certainly looses it. But in the end he earned it, by a little margin, just like his WDC title with 1 point ahead :)
I liked Kimi, but seeing his quali gaps to Giovinazzi at his season, I think it was a timely retirement, even if I wanted to see him racing the cars with the new aero formula. He still had the racecraft, and managing abilities, but not really the raw pace. With some of his uncharacteristic errors, it reminded me to the last season of Coulthard, with similarly more errors than usual.
Oh no, as the finishing order at the 2018 Monza GP was 1)Hamilton, 2)Raikkonen 3)Bottas, 4)Vettel, the opposite happened. It was Mercedes who strategically slowed down Raikkonen, and made him to drive many laps in dirty air by doing a very long sting with Bottas. So quite the opposite, but still it was one of the last real chances for Kimi to win a GP.
It’s really amazing that some of these drivers can compete for 20 years – says a lot about the safety of the sport and the talent that some of those drivers possess.
I loved watching Hakkinen fighting with Schumacher back in the day and was thrilled to see Raikkonen take his place at McLaren when he retired. It’s just a real shame that reliability issues with his McLarens let him down, he was quicker than everyone in that era and deserved to be a multiple world champion. Above all he was a unique character and didn’t confirm to the usual polished, media savvy driver. I’ll miss you Kimi.
Good images, but I would easily drop tha ones from Sochi to show him pass both Ferraris with the Alpha in Portugal. Or, with Alpha, passing the Ferrari of Vettel in Spa. So much good stuff from Kimi.
It’s a real shame young fans will never be able to fully appreciate his younger years and how much he meant to the whole scene in his McLaren years. I’ve never really been a fan of Kimi Raikkonen as a funny meme, i.e. what certains parts of fandom reduce him to, and I think his role and influence in the mid 00’s are still underappreciated and unexplored. 2005 will ever be the championship that was painfully lost.
While I absolutely preferred raikkonen in 2005, it’s not fair to say it was painfully lost, if that mclaren had been reliable it’d have been a dominant car, so raikkonen being this far ahead in races can be explained by the car, you either have a fairly quick and reliable renault or a rocket unreliable mclaren, you can’t have it both ways.
Imre (@f1mre)
27th December 2021, 13:24
It was so nostalgic to have a look at the cars from the 2000s. And the memories of that era and the rivalries of that era.
It would be nice to have a Column where pictures and history (or evolution) are the main features. It could be around eras, teams, rivalries, tracks.
Philippe (@philippe)
27th December 2021, 13:58
Crazy to see how cars just keep getting bigger and uglier.
Sensord4notbeingafanboi (@peartree)
27th December 2021, 16:09
Indeed.
Jockey Ewing
27th December 2021, 14:07
Good stuff, some nice pictures.
I have seen this pre-debut photo in the jet once maybe some years before, but I liked it by that time as well.
“A record-breaking lap at Monza gave him his final career podium in 2018”.
I do not understand this caption. One of the later pictures and captions are about his last win, and last podium. In 2018 Monza he had his last pole iirc. And then, quite famously, or apparently he was used to block one of Vettel’s rivals for many laps, what quite heavily compromised his Monza GP, i hated that by that time, but other teams are doing this to some extent as well. Later on, in 2018 luckily he found some good form and came up with those final podiums, and the victory.
Jockey Ewing
27th December 2021, 14:26
I have found the ending of his 2018 season quite Kim-ish, as despite of an early DNF at the last race, he kept hist 3rd placement in the championship, with 2 points ahead of Verstappen. I was just so sad to see, at the DNF, that he almost certainly looses it. But in the end he earned it, by a little margin, just like his WDC title with 1 point ahead :)
I liked Kimi, but seeing his quali gaps to Giovinazzi at his season, I think it was a timely retirement, even if I wanted to see him racing the cars with the new aero formula. He still had the racecraft, and managing abilities, but not really the raw pace. With some of his uncharacteristic errors, it reminded me to the last season of Coulthard, with similarly more errors than usual.
Thanks for these two tribute articles!
Jockey Ewing
27th December 2021, 18:00
Oh no, as the finishing order at the 2018 Monza GP was 1)Hamilton, 2)Raikkonen 3)Bottas, 4)Vettel, the opposite happened. It was Mercedes who strategically slowed down Raikkonen, and made him to drive many laps in dirty air by doing a very long sting with Bottas. So quite the opposite, but still it was one of the last real chances for Kimi to win a GP.
Michael (@freelittlebirds)
27th December 2021, 14:39
It’s really amazing that some of these drivers can compete for 20 years – says a lot about the safety of the sport and the talent that some of those drivers possess.
stefano (@alfa145)
27th December 2021, 17:42
nice pics, but the Bahrain one is Montoya
Jere (@jerejj)
27th December 2021, 17:43
A nice image compilation. BTW, Montoya is in the 2006 Bahrain GP image.
Esploratore (@esploratore1)
27th December 2021, 18:12
McLaren lined up Raikkonen as a replacement for champion Raikkonen
Raikkonen is the only driver good enough to replace himself (in 2002)!
G
27th December 2021, 19:31
I loved watching Hakkinen fighting with Schumacher back in the day and was thrilled to see Raikkonen take his place at McLaren when he retired. It’s just a real shame that reliability issues with his McLarens let him down, he was quicker than everyone in that era and deserved to be a multiple world champion. Above all he was a unique character and didn’t confirm to the usual polished, media savvy driver. I’ll miss you Kimi.
Estíverson Oliveira
27th December 2021, 20:18
Good images, but I would easily drop tha ones from Sochi to show him pass both Ferraris with the Alpha in Portugal. Or, with Alpha, passing the Ferrari of Vettel in Spa. So much good stuff from Kimi.
Nulla Pax (@nullapax)
27th December 2021, 20:41
I will miss Kimi.
He was a real person in a game of Celebrities :(
Pironi the Provocateur (@pironitheprovocateur)
28th December 2021, 0:22
It’s a real shame young fans will never be able to fully appreciate his younger years and how much he meant to the whole scene in his McLaren years. I’ve never really been a fan of Kimi Raikkonen as a funny meme, i.e. what certains parts of fandom reduce him to, and I think his role and influence in the mid 00’s are still underappreciated and unexplored. 2005 will ever be the championship that was painfully lost.
Esploratore (@esploratore1)
28th December 2021, 1:53
While I absolutely preferred raikkonen in 2005, it’s not fair to say it was painfully lost, if that mclaren had been reliable it’d have been a dominant car, so raikkonen being this far ahead in races can be explained by the car, you either have a fairly quick and reliable renault or a rocket unreliable mclaren, you can’t have it both ways.
antybuc
28th December 2021, 10:04
Bwoah :)
regs (@regs)
29th December 2021, 11:26
https://www.racefans.net/2021/02/09/racefans-round-up-09-02-3/formula-1-testing-jerez-91/
This is how McLaren should looks like now. Ditch blue. It doesn’t mix with orange.