Kimi Raikkonen
Kimi Raikkonen has been on the spotlight ever since he entered F1 in 2001.He is known as one of the coolest persons ever in F1 prompting the nickname "THE ICEMAN".Kimi was always quicker than the car and came runner up in the championship twice.He joined Team McLaren Mercedes in 2002 replacing the retired Mika Hakkinen
In 2003 even in a slower car when compared with Michael Schumacher and Juan Pablo Montoya,He still managed to finish the championship just 2 points behind the WDC Michael.Kimi once again rose up to the challenge taking up the title fight to Fernando ALonso again losing the title because of an unreliable car but still his performances in monaco and japan 2005 are regarded as one of the greatest races in his career and on F1.
2006 was somewhat a bad season for McLaren as they failed to win a single race the whole season.At the 2006 Italian Grand Prix Michael Schumacher anounced that he would retire from the sport and the Ferrari team signed Kimi Raikkonen as their lead driver for the 2007 seson.Kimi won his first formula one WDC in a spectacular fashion at the season finale in Brasil in the year 2007 taking the title by just one point from the rooki driver Lewis Hamilton and Feranado Alonso.
2008 was a dissapointing season for kimi as he failed to adapt to the car and won only just two races but took the DLF fastest laps award by holding a record of 10 fastest laps equalling his previous record held in 2005 and that of Michael Mchumacher.So after winning just 2 races in 2008,rumours began to grow that he would be leaving the team as Massa fought for the title with Lewis Hamilton and lost it in Brasil.But Ferrari showed faith in him signing him again for 2009 and 2010.
The Ferrari's 2009 challenger was worse as the team failed to score points in the first three races.It took Kimi more than 6 races to adapt to the car and his first win of the season came at Spa where he won three times previously.Kimi was named "The King Of Spa" as he won 4 of the 5 races held there previously.His team mate Massa had a life threatening accident at hungary and he hed to be replaced for the rest of the season.Luca Badoer and Giancarlo Fisichella both drove as his replacements and both failed to score a single point.This showed how worse the Ferrari was in 2009.Even the Ferrari mechanics said that they were amazed by Kimi's driving that season.Ferrari fell short of sponsors and they signed a sponsorship deal with Santander on a condition to bring in Fernando Alonso to Ferrari and so Ferrari opted to replace Kimi with Fernando and hence Kimi was left without a drive for 2010 season.
Instead of signing with any other team which he could have,he saw McLaren Mercedes as his only choice and when the McLren announced their driver lineup for 2010 with Jenson Button and Lewis Hamilton,Kimi decide to take a 1 year sabbatical and is now off th WRC.
Good Luck Kimi.
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