Kimi Raikkonen

Date of birth - 17th October 1979

Country - Finland

Team - Mclaren-Mercedes

Kimi Raikkonen did not enter the Formula One scene following the "normal" routes. He began his motorsport endeavours at the age of 11 in national events in Finland.

First in the 1997 and 1998 Finnish and Nordic series in Formula ICA and A championships respectively, Raikkonen had won his maiden international FA race two years before.

Joining Ford team Haywood Racing Kimi took a podium finish on his maiden outing but was later forced to quit the series after technical problems prevented a championship challenge.

Kimi Raikkonen winning the 2000 season British Formula Renault Sport title was what first attracted the attention of the Formula One teams. He took seven wins, ten podiums, seven pole positions and six fastest laps from only ten races. He then went on to impress even more in the category's EuroCup taking two wins, two poles and two fastest laps from only three events (and retired from the lead of the other). Finally Peter Sauber offered Raikkonen a maiden F1 test. With just 23 races under his belt there were naturally serious concerns about Kimi Raikkonen's ability to jump straight from Formula Renault to Formula One but the confident Kimi quickly dispelled any doubts.

2nd in the 2005 championship and the only thing that stopped him was an unreliable car. With a decent car under him he should have been challenging for the championship in 2006, let's see what he can do with a Ferrari in 2007. He's currently in the top 4 and has to fight it out with his driving partner Felipe Massa, Fernando Alonso and the hot new rookie Lewis Hamilton.

Written by the Webmaster of AllAboutAllSport.com, the site for all your driver updates and formula one [http://www.allaboutallsport.com/] news.

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