Kimi Räikkönen

Interesting facts

Sauber signed him for 2001 after just a couple dozen karting and British Formula Renault races - despite FIA president Max Mosley's doubts about granting a superlicence to someone so inexperienced - and during his secret test at Mugello in September 2000, the team code-named him 'Eskimo' to keep rivals from finding out. Double champion Mika Häkkinen played a direct role in getting him to McLaren, repeatedly telling boss Ron Dennis: 'If you wanna win, get the Finn.' In his very first Ferrari season, 2007, he won the title by a single point over Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso in a three-way finale in Brazil, winning six races to his rivals' four apiece. After leaving F1 following 2009, he spent two seasons in the World Rally Championship with co-driver Kaj Lindström before returning to F1; his final Grand Prix win came at the 2018 United States Grand Prix, 114 races after his previous one. His famously cool, terse radio manner - epitomised by the line 'Kimi, you don't need to reply' - earned him the nickname 'Iceman.' Kimi Räikkönen raced in Formula 1 from 2001 to 2021, across 19 seasons as a Finnish driver. He won the World Championship once, in 2007. He scored a total of 1873 championship points over his career.