This is with reference to Kunal Pradhan's article 'FLIPSIDE' on the reigning world Champion Kimi Raikkonen. He said that although the term iceman is great but he wanted someone who has more aggression and was a hot blooded racer to win the championship. I would urge him to kindly go through all the races of 2007 in person and notice kimi's controlled aggression. He is probably the most aggressive racer since 2000. the title of flying finn and iceman was conferred to him by Double World Champion Mika Haikkonen who originally had these titles. Iceman does not imply that he is soft or anything but that under pressure he keeps his cool and continues performing at the very optimum. Kimi has the best personality in formula 1 as of now and is for sure the fastest. He won the DHL fastest lap award for having the highest number of fastest laps.
Just to put the 2007 season in perspective,
Lewis Hamilton : There is no taking away from the fact that Lewis has had a fantastic year in formula 1. Leading the championship points table for quite a long period and having 9 consecutive podium finishes since debut is a remarkable feat but this loud mouth who for most part of the year kept saying a lot did not prove to be very cool at the heart of it. At the European Grand Prix, Germany, he had an accident at the qualifying session and therefore did not stand at a pretty position at the race. He failed to score there after a mix of wet and dry conditions and was actually lucky to have his engine running after he with a lot of other racers ended up at the gravel. His inexperience showed at the Chinese grand Prix where he was overtaken by Kimi cleanly and then out of frustration damaged his tyres completely and hence failed to finish the race. Also in the season finale of the 2007 F1 calender at Brazil, when Alonso overtook him at turn two he wanted to immediately gain back that position and went wide at the next corner which took him to the 6th position. He messed it all up for himself. Saying that Lewis Hamilton is the most consistent driver is quite false because he had only one mechanical failure throughout the 2007 calender which unfortunately for him was when he required the car to be at its peak the most. He managed to finish with 109 points at the end of the season with only one temporary electronic failure and no retirement because of the car whereas the Champion, Kimi Raikkonen finished with 110 with two retirements due to an electronic and hydraulic failure and a race which he completed with a neck injury at Monza. Kimi surely deserves the cake.
Fernando Alonso: The double World champion led the points table for just three races and was second on 14 occasions. He had a tough time at Mclaren and constantly argued that his team was favouring the brit rather than the obvious choice, him. Alonso in the past, at the end of the 2006 championship accused Briatore, his then team boss, of not helping him to win races. Alonso has always been the cry baby and when things don't go as he wishes them to be he resorts to all sorts of mind games and other tricks. Having said this, he obviously had a tough time in adjusting with the setup of the Mclaren. It is difficult to adjust ones racing style with another car having himself fairly familiarised with the Renault setup. Many argued that it's the same case for Hamilton but there is a difference, Alonso has to rework his driving techniques whereas Hamilton starts with a clean slate. Also Hamilton came from Mclaren's youth center and so was fairly familiar to the kind of setup that they work with. Also to satisfy the statistical urge, Alonso finished higher than his teammate on 10 occasions whereas Hamilton managed to do the same in 7 occasions.
Kimi Raikkonen: He had a fantastic year at Ferrari taking 6 wins this year. The others managed a maximum of 4. Kimi during the early middle of the season struggled a bit with two retirements but came back with a bang after the US GP with two consecutive wins at France and Britain. Kimi came into a Bridgestone savvy Ferrari who had a car which was setup for this manufacturer's tyres. Tyres are probably the single most crucial component of any car and to adapt to those is a difficult task. Kimi had an incredible season and even a fault in the Japanese Grand Prix by the officials where they gave the information of full wets to be used during the race reached the Ferrari camp later, Kimi managed to finish third from the 21st spot in wet weather conditions where the mclarens were clearly the fastest as demonstrated by them in the qualifying. Kimi is a stand out racer when it comes to personality. He doesn't speak much in the media and is content with the things that he has. He doesn't criticise the car or the team and is focused at his job like a laser. In the glamorous world of Formula 1 where everyone is so taken away with the fame that it brings, Kimi loves to keep things private and enjoys being with his family and friends. He doesn't like the sponsorship part of it and is just there because he loves to drive.
Apart from this extract let me provide some facts to conclude that Kimi is the rightful winner of this championship and that the media has not given him the respect that he rightfully deserves.
The season ended with Kimi scoring 110 points and Hamilton and Alonso tied at 109 points.
At the end of the Brazilian Grand Prix,
Driver Wins Podium Finishes Retirements No of places gained
due to car failure Driver Error
Kimi 6 12 2 0 17
Alonso 4 11 0 1 5
Hamilton 4 12 0 1 -5
I have calculated the No of places gained by the number of places gained by the driver with respect to his qualifying result.
in 2007,
Average points scored per race excluding retirements excluding retirements due to car failure
Kimi 7.33 7.33
Alonso 6.81 6.41
Hamilton 6.81 6.41
Highest no of fastest laps: - Kimi Raikkonen
Race finishes better than the team mate in 2007
Alonso-10 v/s Hamilton-7
Kimi-11 v/s Massa-6
No of Retirements at Mclaren due to car failure in the past:-
2002 14
2003 8
2004 12
2005 6
2006 11
2007 2-both driver errors
Kimi would have easily won both the drivers championships in 2003 & 05 had the Mclaren shown similar reliability as they have shown this year. This year Mclaren had no retirements with respect to the cars that they gave the drivers which in some ways is probably a record.
Of the 83 finishes for Raikkonen since 2002, he has scored
Points 447
Wins 15
Podium finishes 48
Pole Positions 14
Fastest Laps 25
Also one of the most astonishing and remarkable points is that he failed to score points on only 4 occasions since 2002. He has scored points in all the races since 21st March 2005.
I hope that after going through this article, you would put it up because i want everyone to know where Kimi stands or rather flies with respect to his competitors. He is an outstanding talent who for some reason you guys don't admire much. Also probably all you coverage on the world of Formula 1 is reported or rather extracted by Reuters or the AP(Associated Press). Kindly have someone to write on this fantastic sport that in terms of popularity comes second only to the football World Cup tournament.
