243 replies to this topic

[almart]

So, I was just reading the Gazzetta that has a little preview of their style issue this weekend profiling the new world champion, and I realised I hardly know anything about Kimi at all: With that in mind, I was hoping we could create a nice little profile of our new world champion with anecdotes, and anything anyone knows about him:

The Gazzetta, for instance, reports our Kimi was so poor growing up his house had an actual - OUTHOUSE - which really is something, considering ... he seems to have a house in Finland, in Helsinki, and his career was financed by his mother's brother ... the guy had no aptitude for any kind of 'intellectual' subjects, having failed repeatedly at school, and excelled only in manual projects such as woodworking and mechanics ... though his father doubts he'd ever have become an engineer, suggesting he'd have become a mechanic instead.

[glorius&victorius]

Its interesting to note that the Italian media all year long didnt give a damn about Kimi, hence your knowledge of Kimi.

But I am happy that this is finally going to change. I wonder how it was with Michael, when he joined Ferrari? I guess it was different since he was a 2 times WDC at the time of joining the team.

And perhaps Kimi was happy to stay out of the media focus too...
---

But to come back on Kimi's bio:
-I heard that he lived in Zandvoort - Netherlands for a short time, offcourse for racing. I wonder whether his dog's name Ajax is borrowed from Ajax Amsterdam football club.

-regarding his "mind capacity", I remember Stefano Domenicali called Kimi a "thinker"... one to sit back, think and wait for the right moment.

[Hacklerf]

Taken from Wiki...

Räikkönen married Jenni Dahlman, a Finnish model and former Miss Scandinavia, on 31 July 2004. They currently live in Switzerland. His brother, Rami Räikkönen, is a rally driver and a national junior-class champion.

Räikkönen's hobbies include snowboarding and ice hockey. He has also competed in several different kinds of motorsport events. In March 2007, while his Formula One rivals were in Australia preparing for the season opener, Räikkönen competed in a snowmobile race in Finland under the pseudonym "James Hunt", referring to the 1976 world champion whom Räikkönen admires and whose "playboy" lifestyle has drawn comparisons to him. Räikkönen won the Enduro Sprint race by over 20 seconds with his Lynx MaMo. Later in the year, he entered a powerboat race with his friends, and competed in a gorilla suit, again under the name "James Hunt".

[Spunout]

It is true Kimi´s family wasn´t exactly swimming in money, but I have to point out lots of Finns choose to live in old houses that were built long long time ago. Eg our house is very old, but the thing is it was hand built and in several ways far exceeds the quality - or lack of it - offered by companies that ask 100.000-200.000 euros for something built in haste, by folks who are mostly interested of quick & easy paycheck. Since houses have to survive very cold winter and relatively war summer (proper insulation...heating...etc), they don´t come cheap here in Finland. So, while family Räikkönen had outhouse...that doesn´t mean they were living in poverty as most people know it...

"We had no money. And we never had top equipment. There we were racing in top 10...and whatever was missing in the car, had to be made up with own skills and fight" - Matti Räikkönen

There are several interesting stories about Kimi´s career. At the point when his rivals had huge trailers, their team (consisting of Kimi and his mechanic, Kalle Jokinen) travelled around Europe with old Merc van. The star driver of the team often had to sleep at the back of the van, with his equipment. In one wet race Kimster outperformed the field with dry tyres, simply because he couldn´t afford wet tyres. Later on KR was offered some lunch money for cleaning up...after the team boss found him sleeping in some cardboard box.

The first race Kimi participated outside of Finland was in Monaco. It went rather badly, as the steering wheel broke. After the race, Kimi met fellow Finn Mika Häkkinen. The second race was interesting, too...as one of the participants was future world champ Fernando Alonso. Kimi was involved in first-corner accident, and in fact ended up to the wrong side of the guard rail. While Kalle Jokinen started packing their bags, Kimi kept going (still at the wrong side of the guard rail) and after running out of "road", lifted his go-kart back on track.

"In the end Kimi catched the rest of the field and finished 3rd. It was the best performance ever I have seen in go-kart races" - Kalle Jokinen

When Kimi was 18, David and Steve Robertson (managers of Jenson Button at the time) wanted to test him. At the time Kimi hardly spoke any English at all. After strong performances with FFord/F3/FRenault on various tracks, he moved to FRenault series...and the rest is history. While Frank Williams was pondering whether to give Kimi the test or not, Team Sauber said "yes". Interestingly, in Ferrari camp it was no other than Michael Schumacher who first noticed Kimi, and eventually passed on the information to his boss, Luca di Montezemolo.

Even today Peter Sauber cannot understand why he agreed to gave Kimi the 3-day test and risked 80 million USD of sponsor money to hire somebody who wasn´t even guaranteed to gain super license. But I guess things turned out well in the end...

"Who is that boy who drives the Sauber in front of me?" - Michael Schumacher

[almart]

There was also some legend involving his testing with Button's managers - something about Kimi asking them whether they wanted him to break the lap record - after which he not only broke it, but it remains the lap record?

[DriveFastLiveSlow]

Well, some of my impressions from his interviews in Finnish.

Often people on these boards defend his monotone interviews based on his command of English. Well, in Finnish he isn't any more eloquent.

He seems to have two different personalities. The public one being very reserved. Not saying anything if he doesn't have to. I believe he actually doesn't give a rat's ass about what people think of him. Among friends he seems to be very uninhibited and ready to do anything for fun. I believe the "taking a ****"-comment was one of the rare moments he has left his guard down in public.

Some of his partying has made the papers in Finland, but thankfully escaped the international press.

[Yellowmc]

Originally posted by almart
There was also some legend involving his testing with Button's managers - something about Kimi asking them whether they wanted him to break the lap record - after which he not only broke it, but it remains the lap record?

I heard about that too, apparently he also broke another lap record quite recently in his Formula 3 car while testing his driving without TC.

True or not? I have no idea.

[almart]

Yes he strikes me as very down to earth; that is, not that he doesn't give a **** what others think, but that he's unable to understand why anyone would actually care about what he has to say - his ego is very much in check, unlike the usual racing driver make-up. IS his brother any good at rallying?!

[Hacklerf]

Kimi owns an F3 team as well doesn't he?

[monaco]

http://www.netglimse...nen/index.shtml

He brought seven of his cousins, four aunts and his 75-years old granny, Sirkka, to watch the Hungarian GP 2001

[hello86]

I heard that kimi´s unique voice comes from the fact that he got a broomstrick against his throad when he was young.

[rally man]

Originally posted by Spunout
The first race Kimi participated outside of Finland was in Monaco. It went rather badly, as the steering wheel broke. After the race, Kimi met fellow Finn Mika Häkkinen. The second race was interesting, too...as one of the participants was future world champ Fernando Alonso. Kimi was involved in first-corner accident, and in fact ended up to the wrong side of the guard rail. While Kalle Jokinen started packing their bags, Kimi kept going (still at the wrong side of the guard rail) and after running out of "road", lifted his go-kart back on track.
[/i]

It could be interesting enough that Kimi's crash in Monaco's race happened with Fernando Alonso when they were fighting for lead in the first corner. At least that's the story I have heard.

[Spunout]

Originally posted by rally man


It could be interesting enough that Kimi's crash in Monaco's race happened with Fernando Alonso when they were fighting for lead in the first corner. At least that's the story I have heard.

I don´t know about that...

Nevertheless, one thing that strikes out is the two have respected each other since the karting days. It is interesting to note while the other 3 WDC candidates (FA, LH, FM) had their disputes, there were none between KR & FA. And the same applies to 2005.

[Apocalypse]

He might not be interested in French literature... he's a real working class man, but he's definitely not a dumb guy. Painting him as such is misleading.

[Atreiu]

Originally posted by Spunout


I don´t know about that...

Nevertheless, one thing that strikes out is the two have respected each other since the karting days. It is interesting to note while the other 3 WDC candidates (FA, LH, FM) had their disputes, there were none between KR & FA. And the same applies to 2005.

I remember Alonso and Kimi going nearly wheel to wheel at Silverstone and Monza 2005. At the time I thought Alonso was very Schumacher-like in defending his position, but maybe it was just the camera angle or whatever. Even if he did play too hard, Kimi wouldn't be the one to cry about it later, that's a given.

Hopefuly we'll actually see them going wheel to wheel from now on.

[Professor]

Well,

He used to race karts in The Netherlands with Peter de Bruijn (PdB) racing team in Vlaardingen.
He also lived there for the short period of time.
With PdB he finished second in Eruopean FSA class and I think won finish championship.

And yes he was poor when he was karting / racing in lower formula's.

One of the stories goes like this:
When he raced karts in holland at one particular race (Amsterdam) it was raining.
He didn't have the money to buy proper wets. Instead he went to the tyre trash container and grabbed a set of used wets, while all other guys were on brand new wets.
And of course he won that race.

I don't know how much the above is truth.

Two things are certain.
1. He was excellent in karting. So easy and relaxed....and yet so bloody quick. No way you could follow him around the track even with more powerfull kart. But that goes for almost all young talents...(or I just suck )
2. He came over as a shy boy who loved to sleep ...didn't

While he lived at Peter's house I don't know how they comunicated though...but then again PdB has some strong Scandinavian connections.

Btw PdB team is quite famous. Some of the guys who raced in his team are
- Verstappen
- Raikkonen
- Lotta Hellberg (rip)
- Nicky Pastorelli
- Carlo van Dam

[prty]

Originally posted by Atreiu


I remember Alonso and Kimi going nearly wheel to wheel at Silverstone and Monza 2005. At the time I thought Alonso was very Schumacher-like in defending his position, but maybe it was just the camera angle or whatever. Even if he did play too hard, Kimi wouldn't be the one to cry about it later, that's a given.

Hopefuly we'll actually see them going wheel to wheel from now on.

Actually IIRC in Silverstone Alonso was full of fuel and Raikkonen was about to stop, he didn't put much resistence. The same for Monza, although with a little more resistence. What was Schumacher-like about those moves?

[Spunout]

Originally posted by Apocalypse
He might not be interested in French literature... he's a real working class man, but he's definitely not a dumb guy. Painting him as such is misleading.

Comments from some of the F1 drivers - Alonso, Villeneuve, etc - suggest the version I have heard from some of that folks who know/knew him is true...using no more than few words is Kimi´s way to keep the press away. Obviously I don´t know Kimster personally (and to be honest I am mostly interested of on-track stuff anyway), but I would guess he is very much regular Finnish dude who happens to be extremely talented racer.

"...in the paddock, Kimi tries to look one-dimensional..." - Jacques Villeneuve

[Apocalypse]

When it comes to PR, I'm sure he's the worst driver out there. That monotonic babble is just out of this world.

But I've never seen him whining publicly about anything... or giving ANY excuses when someone is quicker than him. I don't even recall him mentioning how difficult it was to get used to the Bridgestones in the beginning of the season. Actually I'm not even sure if he gives a crap what rest of the world thinks about him. He just loves to race... he's much like Senna in that sense.

[Atreiu]

Originally posted by prty



Actually IIRC in Silverstone Alonso was full of fuel and Raikkonen was about to stop, he didn't put much resistence. The same for Monza, although with a little more resistence. What was Schumacher-like about those moves?

Yes, Kimi was lighter and hadn't pitted yet on both occasions. Like I said, these are only recollections, not firm convictions writen in stone. I don't think Alonso ever made it any easy for him.

[intelligentsia]

So Kimi's life stories would actually make a better seller, than the Lewis biography by the look of it!

[Knot]

Kimi is also 3rd cousin to Jos Verstappen!

[Budvar]

I hope they get a good journo to write his biography......an autobiography would hardly be on the best sellers list.

[Panch]

I love the story where he was sleeping in front of a bar with an inflatable dolphin in his arms

[jokuvaan]

I think same as Spunout, that Kimi is basicly just regular guy, who you could find at back-yard of any Finnish vocational metal workshop school.
But he happens to have two special natural born extra things: driving talent and some sort of abnormal stress behaviour.

btw. Mark Arnall told TS how Häkkinen had to keep on talking something to forget the title race(in 1998) and Kimi just went to sleep as always.

[pjabyrne]

Pics of Rami Raikkonen:
http://images.google...htt...l=en&sa=N

Any other driver would have tried to get Hamilton penalised for the block in qualifying. In fact I think Ferrari were put in a position that they couldn't do so because Kimi totally downplayed it.

Instead he played hardball on the first lap, slowed Hamilton and allowed Alonso to get a run at him.

His laid back attitude is the direct opposite of Lewis' 'I'm going to train harder/work harder/be stronger next year' philosophy. Maybe the fact he has a 'normal' social life for a twenty-something guy acts as a relief valve and means that when it comes to title deciders he's moe calm than Lewis was in the last 2 races.

Poor ol' Lewis has nothing else, is wound up by all the hype (a lot of it self-generated) and gives himself more to live up to.

[spin]

A hairy chicane.

Few older articles:
Oct. 2000
Nov. 2000
Sept. 2005

[Yellowmc]

I think a lot of his cool attitude comes from his time with the Finnish Army, I am one of those oldies who believe that taking part in national service can only be a good thing. The fact that he had only 20+ car races under his belt when he tested an F1 car is simply staggering and is a testament to his raw talent.

[Mauseri]

Originally posted by almart
The Gazzetta, for instance, reports our Kimi was so poor growing up his house had an actual - OUTHOUSE - which really is something, considering ...

Well... outhouse isnt that special (although rare). Most finns have experienced outhouse sometime, for example in summer cottage. And they lived in own house, not in a rent flat.

[almart]

Originally posted by Knot
Kimi is also 3rd cousin to Jos Verstappen!

Eh? Explain how this works?!

[almart]

Originally posted by Panch
I love the story where he was sleeping in front of a bar with an inflatable dolphin in his arms

I missed this story - when did that happen?

[almart]

Originally posted by spin
A hairy chicane.

Few older articles:
Oct. 2000
Nov. 2000
Sept. 2005

Thanks for the links - very interesting looking back at the early days ... I also notice there isn't any biographies on the guy available in english - any in finnish?

turns out that keke was right too

The former Formula One World Champion Keke Rosberg, who is these days heavily involved in managing other drivers, has commented that the Räikkönen deal could revolutionise the world of F1 racing. Speaking to Autosport, Rosberg said that things will change radically if the youngster gets a superlicence, and the drivers' market would be turned on its end. He argued that this sort of thing would not have happened in his driving days (Rosberg was World Champion in 1982), since the cars were so powerful and so much harder to keep on the track.
Rosberg believes that racing teams would now have an incentive to hire younger and younger drivers. This would reduce their payroll costs appreciably, since the young and up-and-coming drivers would come a great deal less expensively than established stars such as Mika Häkkinen or Michael Schumacher.

[Dsilence]

A two year old QA with Kimi:
http://forums.autosp...?threadid=81083

[hello86]

Basic Facts
Full name: Kimi Matias Räikkönen
Nicknames: Iceman, Kimppa, Rakka, his mechanics call him Kimster
Nationality: Finnish
Date of Birth: 17th of October 1979
Place of Birth: Espoo (Finland)
Height: 1.75 m
Weight: 71,5 kg
Hair: Blond (But he highlights it!) (And remember that purple hair )
Eyes: Blue (or rumoured to have grey/green eyes)
Distinguishing feature: tatoo
Residence: Formula Renault: Chigwell, England; Lived in manager's house.
F1 (Sauber): Hinwill and Wollerau, Switzerland
F1 (McLaren): Zurich, Switzerland
F1 (Ferrari); Milan, Italy

People in Kimi’s Life
Dad: Matti, road builder
Mom: Paula, government office clerk
Brother: Rami; Older by 1 year 10 months; Rally driver in Finland
Nephew: Juustu (child of Rami)
Wife: Jenni Maria Dahlmann; http://digilander.li.....i sposato.JPG
- Married since 31nd of July 2004
- Jenni Dahlman
- Miss Finland runner-up 2000, Miss Scandinavia 2000;
- Born Oct. 27, 1981. 0.
- 1.78m tall

Education
Qualification: Regular Finnish school system
Favorite Subject: Sports (esp. ice hockey during winter)
Conscription: 12 months compulsary service in Finnish Army
Languages Spoken: Finnish and English

Sports
Hobbies: Snowboarding, jogging, going to the gym, MotoX, ice-hockey, skidoos, jet-ski, golf (learned in England)
Motorsports: Watches almost all motorsports on TV
Favorite Rally Driver: Tommi Mäkinen and Markus Gronholm
Favorite Ice Hockey Team: Espoo, Finland and NHL teams
Favorite Football Team: Finnish National Soccer Team
Best F1 Overtaking Maneuver: Mika Häkkinen overtaking M Schumacher in Spa 2000

Other Stuff
3 Things to Take on a Desert Island: Lots of food, wife and helicopter.
Ambition Outside Racing: Start a family at some point
Dream Holiday: Carribean
Favorite Country: Finland
Films: Watches a lot of movies. Likes A Knights Tale and Gone In 60 Seconds
Handedness: Right (Writing), Left ((ice-)Hockey)
Ideal Dinner Companion: "Girlfriend, girlfriend and girlfriend!"
McLaren: "I decided on this team because both drivers are given an equal chance and, as one of the top teams, it means you have a chance to win races, and also of course to try and win the championships."
Ferrari: "It was my ultimate dream to drive for Ferrari, a team with such a great history"
Oversteer: Prefers it.
Pets: a Geman shepard, called Ajax, as a wedding gift and a Jack Russel Terrier called Peppi.
Rest and Relaxation: Going home to Switzerland, spending time with friends and family
Sleeping: Sleeps a lot. Needs to be woken up before qualifying and races
Smoking: Kimi hates it! (But Jenni does)
Tattoo: Black smiling sun on right wrist (Summer 2001). See picture above
Yacht: Does not own one; rents
Houses: Kimi lives in Wollerau, Swiss, has a home in Finland

Kimi’s Answers To Gone in 60 seconds (f1 magazine)
Williams over Ferrari
Finland over Britain
Dry over Wet
Hot over Cold
Black over White
Hotel over Villa
Casual over Smart
Ron Dennis over Peter Sauber
Diamonds over Pearls
Vodka over Whisky
Photo shoot over Press Conference
Häkkinen over Rosberg
Kylie over J-Lo
Big Mac over Whopper

Did you know that...
- Kimi is the 6th Finn ever to drive in F1
- Kimi met Hanna (his ex-girlfriend) on a blind date
- Kimi was asleep 20 minutes before his first F1 GP, but can't remember what he dreamt about
- Kimi likes traveling across the world
- Kimi isn't afraid to stall on the grid
- Kimi thinks it would be cool to have Michael Schumacher as his teammate, because he could learn a lot from the world champion
- Kimi likes to play golf just for fun
- Kimi brought seven of his cousins, four aunts and his 75-years old granny, Sirkka, to watch the Hungarian GP 2001
- Kimi bought a play station
- He thinks Eau Rouge is just a corner among the others
- He eats junk food whenever he wants to
- Kimi says he used to ski a lot, but now he prefers snowboarding
- Kimi thinks smoking is very dangerous
- His favorite hobbies besides F1 are motor sports
- On his free time he watches movies, spends some time with his friends, just relaxes and does a lot of different sports
- Between the warm-up and GP he goes to a drivers meeting, eats and relaxes


so that should be enough

[hello86]

LITTLE KIMI, HOW MUCH YOU HAVE GROWN

From Finland, Dad Matti, Mom Paula, the friend and rival Toni Vilander tell the (eventful) childhood of the Ferrari driver. “In every thing he has made he has always shown his true nature. Overtaking.

”The symbol feature of Kimi Räikkönen is not his typically Finnish nature, neither his silent attitude, nor his affectionate attachment to the family. Rather, in every thing he does, the driver of Espoo puts his inexhaustible agonistic energy. Every funny thing this Finnish 27 years-old guy does with his friends, he makes it a personal challenge. “It's difficult to play with Kimi, for example at ping pong. If I play well, Kimi always must try to prevail, however”, explains the bigger brother Rami Räikkönen. “Sometimes you have to let Kimi winning, because he does not stop it until he has won. This is for everything you make, both for a bicycle trip and for a tennis match”, confirms Toni Vilander, a race rival who now is Kimi's bosom friend. Like every Finn, Räikkönen loves the cross country skiing. The skating step, according the trainer Mark Arnall, is perfect to reinforce the legs of a driver: “But absolutely I don't think to go skiing with Kimi”, smiles Arnall, who is in perfect form but he has already tried to fight with Kimi in various other sports… Kimi in fact is interested in all that is only similar to a sport. When he presented a racing horse to his wife Jenni and he tried for the first time in his life to ride it, he immediatly tried to go the animal as fast as possible on track. At the end he began to scream to know how to stop the horse. Fortunately the crazy run happily finished in front of a high obstacle, but since that day Jenni Dahlman-Räikkönen have never more given permission to his husband to ride her horses. The Räikkönens love the animals: in addition to the horses they have two dogs, a German sheperd named Aksu and a Jack Russell Terrier, Peppi. But Kimi is allergic to horses and cats: “And also to the journalists”, he adds smiling. Well, he also has the sense of the humour.

A REAL ICEMAN
In addition to his competing mania, sang froid and self control are innate features of Räikkönen. Kimi is a real man of ice and really justifies with his behavior the nickname given by McLaren. The mother Paula Räikkönen remembers she has seen her son irritable only once. Kimi was six years old and he went to a normal visit to the doctor's office. While the mother and the doctor were speaking, Kimi, in a games corner, began to distress himself and to get nervous. Immediatly the doctor thought the child could be affected by disturbs of concentration, even if it was only about toys. Instead Kimi, who loved riddles very much at those times, had found a puzzle, suited to his age that seemed him too much easy, so he wanted another - for children 10-15 aged - that the nurse did not want to give him. At the end Kimi obtained what he wanted and fastly put pieces in right place with a happy smile. So the doctor laughing said: “For sure this boy doesn’t have concentration problems”.
FIRST THAT WAS A BICYCLE
The Räikkönen family is from the Carelia: they come from the country of Räikköla, near Sakkijarvi, a city of ex URSS after the Second World War, while Kimi’s family house is sited in Karhusuo (Espoo). “Over there, among forests”, Kimi’s father Matti tells. The house has been builted by Kimi’s great-grandfather. His parents Paula and Matti have lived there for twenty years. The house courtyard was the first track for Rami and Kimi. The story began from a minicross, a bicycle for children marked Italietti. “Kimi was three years old and he wasn’t able to drive a pedal car, but he could ride that Italietti very well”, the father remembers. “Then when the boys grew, the bicycles would have had to be changed, but they were too much expensive”. Meanwhile, Kimi and his brother Rami were competing in everything, sometimes they came to blows, sometimes they rode their little bicycles raising powder clouds, all the day.

FROM THE GARDEN OF HOUSE TO THE POTATOES FIELD
Instead of two new bicycles the Räikkönens bought two Lada, very old russian cars, models 1200 and 1600. One red, the other green. “Since that moment our garden have been similar to a potatoes field. There was a deep furrow surrounded by a gravel wall, that did not allow to arrive to the house directly from the road”, remembers the dad. Then the Lada cars were sold and they bought a go-kart. The two boys moved some kilometers from the house courtyard to the famous track of Bemböle, threatened of closing for ten years, where both Kimi and Keke Rosberg, JJ Lehto, Mika Salo, Mika Hakkinen began their own career. At Bemböle the amateurs could run three days a week, time that the Räikkönen brothers spent integrally. But two racing lovers brothers could not resist over a long time with only one go-kart: “Rami was too much higher than Kimi and he had to regulate the pedals at every change of driver”, dad Matti continues. “As result, boys didn’t time their laptimes, but the time spent at the box waiting their own turn… So we also had to buy another car". The family house needed of restructure works, there wasn’t even the bathroom, but because of boys’ cars, they had to content theirself with the outside toilet.

MINI RAKET, THE CAREER BEGINS
The first Kimi’s contest category was the Mini Raket Karting, in which Kimi began to run when he was 10 years old, in 1989. In 1991 he arrived second in the general Class of the Mini Raket Goblet, while first classified was Toni Vilander. After this contest Räikkönen jumped in the Formula A 100 cc, where he won his debut race. “In the lower classes Kimi was not with the best ones, because there was not money for new chassis. We only could run. In my opinion a young talented driver grows better if he has not immediatly the best cars. In those days fifth place was already a success for us", emphasizes Matti Räikkönen. In those years Toni Vilander was a hard rival for Räikkönen, but quickly the two boys learned to appreciate themselves, becoming friends. “Kimi always has been a positive companion, with a terrible longing for winning. We left the fights on the tracks and we spent nice times together. We became friends. Then we made a promise: if one of us would be arrived in F.1, the other one would have followed him to spur him", tells Vilander. Who respected his promise. “Also the military service we made it together: Kimi postponed for a year his coming in the Armed Forces to wait for me”. Vilander and Räikkönen, together with Oskari Heikkinen, were the National team of karting.

SCHOOL, WHAT A BORING THING!
Studies have never been a challenge for Räikkönen: he didn’t like studying on the books. Best day for Kimi was on thursday because the scholastic program planned two hours of physical activity, two hours of unskilled labors, peas soup and crêpes for lunch. “Every winter Kimi weared out two schoolbags, not because of the books inside, but because he handled them as a sledge when he went home”, the Dad jokes. He was 16 years old when he stopped the professional school, course for mechanics, and he went away.

HOCKEY, WHAT A PASSION!
Räikkönen always has been fascinated from all types of sport. He played hockey on ice in the Espoo Team, the Jupperin Urheilijat. The Matinkylä stadium was sited in the opposite side of Espoo and as training for the juniores began at 7 o’clock in the morning, Kimi, who certainly is not an early riser, had to clench his teeth for being of the match. “Once, while I was taking Kimi to the training, in the rear seat he always repeated me that maybe it would be better to change sport and playing fencing. For sure fencers have not to play in the middle of the night. So I brought into laughter that I was going off the road", Mom Paula tells. “Kimi was the smallest boy of the team and he was a defending player. If he was not able to block adversaries with other ways, he throwed to their feet to trouble the action with obstinacy and toughness. Sometimes the coach worried about him and didn’t let Kimi playing when the adversaries were too dangerously sturdy". Now Räikkönen loves hockey on ice: Teemu Selanne, one of best producers of the Nhl and player of the Anaheim Ducks, is his friend and at the same time his neighbourg at Porkkala. Every time he can Räikkönen goes to the training and to the contest of the Finnish Vip Team of the Oilers of Pietarinkatu, and also to Kirkkonummi to see amateurs teams. One thing is clear: his taste of the competition is the same one of when he was a child.

From SportWeek (Gazzetta dello Sport) - 24/02/2007

[pac]

Double R Racing. Info is hard to come by (is there even an official team website?), but there is an overview of the F3 team:

http://en.wikipedia....obertson_Racing

Someone has put together an unofficial site:

http://www.iceman-ki...om/rrracing.htm

Hard to tell his level of involvement in this team. Are there any good sources on Dave & Steve Robertson and their early association with Kimi?

It's amusing that there is an entire pipeline of Hamilton books (by my count at least 8), but nothing on the current WC! I guess the same could be said about Alonso, unless there is something out there in Spanish. The old articles posted in this thread have been great to read. Thanks.

[Joyce]

Originally posted by hello86
LITTLE KIMI, HOW MUCH YOU HAVE GROWN

From Finland, Dad Matti, Mom Paula, the friend and rival Toni Vilander tell the (eventful) childhood of the Ferrari driver. “In every thing he has made he has always shown his true nature. Overtaking.

”The symbol feature of Kimi Räikkönen is not his typically Finnish nature, neither his silent attitude, nor his affectionate attachment to the family. Rather, in every thing he does, the driver of Espoo puts his inexhaustible agonistic energy. Every funny thing this Finnish 27 years-old guy does with his friends, he makes it a personal challenge. “It's difficult to play with Kimi, for example at ping pong. If I play well, Kimi always must try to prevail, however”, explains the bigger brother Rami Räikkönen. “Sometimes you have to let Kimi winning, because he does not stop it until he has won. This is for everything you make, both for a bicycle trip and for a tennis match”, confirms Toni Vilander, a race rival who now is Kimi's bosom friend. Like every Finn, Räikkönen loves the cross country skiing. The skating step, according the trainer Mark Arnall, is perfect to reinforce the legs of a driver: “But absolutely I don't think to go skiing with Kimi”, smiles Arnall, who is in perfect form but he has already tried to fight with Kimi in various other sports… Kimi in fact is interested in all that is only similar to a sport. When he presented a racing horse to his wife Jenni and he tried for the first time in his life to ride it, he immediatly tried to go the animal as fast as possible on track. At the end he began to scream to know how to stop the horse. Fortunately the crazy run happily finished in front of a high obstacle, but since that day Jenni Dahlman-Räikkönen have never more given permission to his husband to ride her horses. The Räikkönens love the animals: in addition to the horses they have two dogs, a German sheperd named Aksu and a Jack Russell Terrier, Peppi. But Kimi is allergic to horses and cats: “And also to the journalists”, he adds smiling. Well, he also has the sense of the humour.

A REAL ICEMAN
In addition to his competing mania, sang froid and self control are innate features of Räikkönen. Kimi is a real man of ice and really justifies with his behavior the nickname given by McLaren. The mother Paula Räikkönen remembers she has seen her son irritable only once. Kimi was six years old and he went to a normal visit to the doctor's office. While the mother and the doctor were speaking, Kimi, in a games corner, began to distress himself and to get nervous. Immediatly the doctor thought the child could be affected by disturbs of concentration, even if it was only about toys. Instead Kimi, who loved riddles very much at those times, had found a puzzle, suited to his age that seemed him too much easy, so he wanted another - for children 10-15 aged - that the nurse did not want to give him. At the end Kimi obtained what he wanted and fastly put pieces in right place with a happy smile. So the doctor laughing said: “For sure this boy doesn’t have concentration problems”.
FIRST THAT WAS A BICYCLE
The Räikkönen family is from the Carelia: they come from the country of Räikköla, near Sakkijarvi, a city of ex URSS after the Second World War, while Kimi’s family house is sited in Karhusuo (Espoo). “Over there, among forests”, Kimi’s father Matti tells. The house has been builted by Kimi’s great-grandfather. His parents Paula and Matti have lived there for twenty years. The house courtyard was the first track for Rami and Kimi. The story began from a minicross, a bicycle for children marked Italietti. “Kimi was three years old and he wasn’t able to drive a pedal car, but he could ride that Italietti very well”, the father remembers. “Then when the boys grew, the bicycles would have had to be changed, but they were too much expensive”. Meanwhile, Kimi and his brother Rami were competing in everything, sometimes they came to blows, sometimes they rode their little bicycles raising powder clouds, all the day.

FROM THE GARDEN OF HOUSE TO THE POTATOES FIELD
Instead of two new bicycles the Räikkönens bought two Lada, very old russian cars, models 1200 and 1600. One red, the other green. “Since that moment our garden have been similar to a potatoes field. There was a deep furrow surrounded by a gravel wall, that did not allow to arrive to the house directly from the road”, remembers the dad. Then the Lada cars were sold and they bought a go-kart. The two boys moved some kilometers from the house courtyard to the famous track of Bemböle, threatened of closing for ten years, where both Kimi and Keke Rosberg, JJ Lehto, Mika Salo, Mika Hakkinen began their own career. At Bemböle the amateurs could run three days a week, time that the Räikkönen brothers spent integrally. But two racing lovers brothers could not resist over a long time with only one go-kart: “Rami was too much higher than Kimi and he had to regulate the pedals at every change of driver”, dad Matti continues. “As result, boys didn’t time their laptimes, but the time spent at the box waiting their own turn… So we also had to buy another car". The family house needed of restructure works, there wasn’t even the bathroom, but because of boys’ cars, they had to content theirself with the outside toilet.

MINI RAKET, THE CAREER BEGINS
The first Kimi’s contest category was the Mini Raket Karting, in which Kimi began to run when he was 10 years old, in 1989. In 1991 he arrived second in the general Class of the Mini Raket Goblet, while first classified was Toni Vilander. After this contest Räikkönen jumped in the Formula A 100 cc, where he won his debut race. “In the lower classes Kimi was not with the best ones, because there was not money for new chassis. We only could run. In my opinion a young talented driver grows better if he has not immediatly the best cars. In those days fifth place was already a success for us", emphasizes Matti Räikkönen. In those years Toni Vilander was a hard rival for Räikkönen, but quickly the two boys learned to appreciate themselves, becoming friends. “Kimi always has been a positive companion, with a terrible longing for winning. We left the fights on the tracks and we spent nice times together. We became friends. Then we made a promise: if one of us would be arrived in F.1, the other one would have followed him to spur him", tells Vilander. Who respected his promise. “Also the military service we made it together: Kimi postponed for a year his coming in the Armed Forces to wait for me”. Vilander and Räikkönen, together with Oskari Heikkinen, were the National team of karting.

SCHOOL, WHAT A BORING THING!
Studies have never been a challenge for Räikkönen: he didn’t like studying on the books. Best day for Kimi was on thursday because the scholastic program planned two hours of physical activity, two hours of unskilled labors, peas soup and crêpes for lunch. “Every winter Kimi weared out two schoolbags, not because of the books inside, but because he handled them as a sledge when he went home”, the Dad jokes. He was 16 years old when he stopped the professional school, course for mechanics, and he went away.

HOCKEY, WHAT A PASSION!
Räikkönen always has been fascinated from all types of sport. He played hockey on ice in the Espoo Team, the Jupperin Urheilijat. The Matinkylä stadium was sited in the opposite side of Espoo and as training for the juniores began at 7 o’clock in the morning, Kimi, who certainly is not an early riser, had to clench his teeth for being of the match. “Once, while I was taking Kimi to the training, in the rear seat he always repeated me that maybe it would be better to change sport and playing fencing. For sure fencers have not to play in the middle of the night. So I brought into laughter that I was going off the road", Mom Paula tells. “Kimi was the smallest boy of the team and he was a defending player. If he was not able to block adversaries with other ways, he throwed to their feet to trouble the action with obstinacy and toughness. Sometimes the coach worried about him and didn’t let Kimi playing when the adversaries were too dangerously sturdy". Now Räikkönen loves hockey on ice: Teemu Selanne, one of best producers of the Nhl and player of the Anaheim Ducks, is his friend and at the same time his neighbourg at Porkkala. Every time he can Räikkönen goes to the training and to the contest of the Finnish Vip Team of the Oilers of Pietarinkatu, and also to Kirkkonummi to see amateurs teams. One thing is clear: his taste of the competition is the same one of when he was a child.

From SportWeek (Gazzetta dello Sport) - 24/02/2007

I like this article.

[glorius&victorius]

Originally posted by pjabyrne
Pics of Rami Raikkonen:
http://images.google...htt...l=en&sa=N

is that the "Ralf version" of Kimi?

[Kanzo]

Originally posted by pjabyrne
Pics of Rami Raikkonen:
http://images.google...htt...l=en&sa=N

Offtopic: The guy on the left is a famous Finnish musician Anssi Kela who was 4th in the Finnish F3 Championships this year after Rami Räikkönen (click on the F3 link).

[F1Champion]

Originally posted by Yellowmc


I heard about that too, apparently he also broke another lap record quite recently in his Formula 3 car while testing his driving without TC.

True or not? I have no idea.

Would be interesting to confirm whether Kimi is doing this, if true its very good news that he is trying to perfect his technique with TC so early on. Although at the end of the day a F3 car is different to a F1, but it can't hurt though.

[vaavu]

Apparently, Kimi couldn't speak that much English when he moved to Robertsons' house in England. He learned how to communicate by speaking with the kids of the family and by watching TV.

This article from year 2004 paints a picture of Kimi and his background quite nicely. Unfortunately it is in Finnish only.

http://kuvat2.iltasa...o/ISF1_kimi.pdf

In the article, the principal of Kimi's elementary school recalls that Kimi wasn't talkative at all. If Kimi didn't want to speak, it was impossible to get words out of him. "Based on his TV appearance, he seems to be much easier to be interviewed nowadays", he says.

[Panch]

Originally posted by almart


I missed this story - when did that happen?

It was in England, i don´t remember the year.

[pac]

No idea about the year, but all the accounts I have read indicate that the dolphin incident was in Spain.

For example, Alan Henry, from Monday's Guardian ("Finn's raw blend of speed, control and zest paved way for win")

"There is very much a touch of James Hunt about Raikkonen. The Finn may not be as obviously extrovert as the 1976 world champion but Hunt would certainly have approved of reports of Raikkonen's roistering behaviour in a West End club and his reportedly falling asleep outside a Spanish bar clutching an inflatable dolphin. The third Finn to win the world championship can certainly put his foot down in more ways than one."

[100cc]

Originally posted by Professor
He used to race karts in The Netherlands with Peter de Bruijn (PdB) racing team in Vlaardingen.

When Kimi had just started his first year in F1 I asked Peter and Lotta about how he was in Karting and they said something along the lines of "very fast... his only problem was that instead of changing the kart setup to fix a problem he would drive around the problem too much"

[Hacklerf]

Anyone got a pic of the champ and his dolphin? heh

[monaco]

I wonder how Kimi will sound in Italian, once he starts learning to speak a few words in the language for one of Ferrari's public events ( car inauguration, etc.) -- Italian accent, Raikkonen version

[cartman]

Originally posted by Hacklerf
Anyone got a pic of the champ and his dolphin? heh

[hello86]

who thse who can understand finnish

http://kuvat2.iltasa...o/ISF1_kimi.pdf

[Uxoros]

Ross Brawn rubbishing the stories about Kimi not working hard enough for his team: http://www.autosport...rt.php/id/63644

[vaavu]

Originally posted by Hacklerf
Anyone got a pic of the champ and his dolphin? heh

Unfortunately this is too small to see properly, but it was published on this Finnish tabloid. The incident happened on the Canary Islands:

http://www.seiska.fi...miraikkonen.jpg

Disclaimer: I cannot say whether the picture is fabricated or not.