Born : 17 October 1979 (age 32)
Live : Espoo, Finland
World Formula One career
Nationality : Finnish
2012 team : Lotus-Renault
2012 car # : 9
Races : 170 (169 starts)
Championships : 1 (2007)
Wins : 18
Podiums : 68
Career points : 720
Pole positions : 16
Fastest laps : 37
First race : 2001 Australian Grand Prix
First win : 2003 Malaysian Grand Prix
Last win : 2009 Belgian Grand Prix
Last race : 2012 Italian Grand Prix
World Rally Championship record
Active years : 2009–2011
Teams : Citroën Junior Team, ICE 1 Racing
Rallies : 21
Championships : 0
Rally wins : 0
Podiums : 0
Stage wins : 1
Total points : 59
First rally : 2009 Rally Finland
Last rally : 2011 Wales Rally GB
Kimi-Matias Räikkönen (Finnish pronunciation: [ˈkimi ˈmɑtiɑs ˈræikːønen]; born 17 October 1979 in Espoo) is a Finnish racing driver. He drives in Formula One for Lotus in 2012. After nine seasons racing in Formula One, in which he took the 2007 Formula One World Drivers' Championship, he competed in the World Rally Championship from 2010–2011.
Räikkönen entered Formula One as a regular driver for Sauber-Petronas in 2001. Having previously only raced in very junior open-wheel categories, he was given his Super Licence from the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA) after a performance delivery promise by his team boss, Peter Sauber. He joined McLaren Mercedes in 2002, and became a title contender by finishing runner-up in the 2003 and 2005 championships to Michael Schumacher and Fernando Alonso, respectively. Räikkönen's 2003 and 2005 seasons were plagued by severe unreliability from his McLaren cars.
Räikkönen switched to Ferrari in 2007, becoming the highest paid driver in motor sport with an estimated wage of $51 million per year. In turn his move to Ferrari saw him secure his first Formula One World Drivers' Championship, beating McLaren drivers Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso by one point, as well as becoming one of the very few drivers to win in their first season at Ferrari. In 2008, he equalled the record for fastest laps in a season for the second time. After one more year in the sport, he left the Ferrari F1 team to drive a Citroën C4 WRC for the Citroën Junior Team in the World Rally Championship for 2010. Along with rallying, Räikkönen has turned his attention towards NASCAR, and made his debut for Kyle Busch Motorsports in the Camping World Truck Series.
In 2008, Räikkönen was among the two Formula One drivers who made it into the Forbes magazine's The Celebrity 100 list, the other being Fernando Alonso. He is 36th on Forbes magazine's The Celebrity 100 list of 2008, and 41st on the previous year. On the same list, as of 2008, he is listed as the 26th highest paid celebrity overall and the 5th highest paid sportsman behind Tiger Woods, David Beckham, Michael Jordan and Phil Mickelson. In 2009, Räikkönen was listed as the equal 2nd highest paid athlete in the world, behind Woods. Räikkönen has signed a 2 year deal with Lotus starting with the 2012 Formula One season.
PERSONAL LIFE
Räikkönen married Jenni Dahlman, a Finnish model and former Miss Scandinavia, on 31 July 2004. They currently live in Baar, Switzerland. His older brother, Rami Räikkönen, is a rally driver and a national junior-class champion, who also competes in the Finnish Formula 3 Championship; their father Matti was a road builder.
Räikkönen's hobbies include snowboarding and ice hockey. During his spare time he can often be seen watching his hometown ice hockey team Espoo Blues play. 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 whose "playboy" lifestyle has been compared with Räikkönen's own.
Räikkönen won the Enduro Sprint race by over 20 seconds with his Lynx. Later in the year, he and two friends entered a powerboat race in the Finnish harbour city of Hanko while wearing gorilla suits. Again, he raced under the name "James Hunt". They then won a prize for the best-dressed crew. In August 2008, it was announced that Räikkönen would appear on a set of Finnish postage stamps. The stamps, which were released to commemorate the Finnish postal service's 370th anniversary, feature images of him racing and on the podium, with the words "F1 World Champion '07 Kimi Räikkönen".
In 2011, Räikkönen founded his own Motocross World Championship team, Ice 1 Racing. The team consists of MX1 rider Toni Eriksson and MX2 rider Ludde Söderberg and is managed by seven-time enduro world champion Kari Tiainen. The Ice 1 Racing team also supports six junior riders competing in the Finnish national championship.
Räikkönen is known for his dislike of giving media interviews, and frequently answers questions in a blunt and monosyllabic manner. A notable incident occurred in the build-up to the 2006 Brazilian Grand Prix when then-ITV pundit Martin Brundle asked Räikkönen why he didn't bother to watch a ceremony where legendary footballer Pelé presented Michael Schumacher with a lifetime achievement award. Räikkönen replied (on live TV) "I was having a shit".
HELMET
The insignia that appears on the top of Raikkonen's helmet Räikkönen's helmet, designed by UffeDesigns, manufactured by Arai (2001–2006,2012) and Schuberth (2007–2009), almost never changed from team to team. The insignia was painted in white during his time racing for Sauber and McLaren until 2005, and red from 2006 with McLaren and during his time with Ferrari. His helmet has also always featured a V design running on the circle top -representing a bird flying – and the inscription "Iceman". In his debut race, his helmet was predominantly blue with white and silver details. When he joined McLaren in 2002 the design was left intact, only making the top circle all blue (rather than blue and silver) and with some black details on the chin area.
In 2003–2005 his helmet was blue and white with some red and silver parts, red details were added on the symbol that was added to the M design. In 2006 his helmet was the same, only changing the blue to black with red and white lines on it. When racing for Ferrari Räikkönen's helmet changed radically: it was white with the middle part black and red with tribal and a black circle with the design in the top, in 2008 black paisley motifs were added in the red areas. He retained this design in some rallies, although the helmet style was significantly different for this discipline.
In WRC and NASCAR he used a blue Stilo helmet with Red Bull's logo, silver and white accents (to resemble Red Bull's can design and Räikkönen's Sauber helmet lines), the symbol and the M insignia (in white and red) and with the inscription "Iceman".
In his return to Formula 1, he sported a black helmet with a white diagonal line crossing from each side until the angles of the visor and a thicker red diagonal line beneath the white line and a red number 9 in a corner of the white line (to allude to his car number), a white circle in the top with black edged designs (similar to horns) on the upper front. The design on the top became black and in the back of the helmet there is the inscription "Iceman" written in red letters. From Australian Grand Prix, there are more details added on top of the helmet. Manufacturer of his helmet for 2012 season is Arai.