Kimi Räikkönen - Back to his Best?

[Paul Jeffrey]

Kimi Räikkönen had a more convincing weekend in Australia that for many years, does this mean a revival for one of the most popular Grand Prix drivers?

If we are brutally honest with ourselves, Kimi Räikkönen hasn't been the same driver since his 2007 title winning season, having seemingly lost much of that drive and hair on the back of the neck raising skill that the 'Ice Man' often showed during his early McLaren years. Having been comprehensively spanked by "second driver" Felipe Massa at Ferrari before leaving Grand Prix racing for an ill advised career in rally, Räikkönen returned to the top level with Lotus and quickly showed enough form to secure an unlikely return to the red team for the 2014 season.

Since re-joining Ferrari flashes of the old Kimi have resurfaced, but frankly the Finn seems to have adopted the role of solid support driver rather than bona fide front runner, leaving many to wonder that at the age of 38 this could well be the final hurrah for one of the most popular personalities in modern Formula One.

Enter the 2018 season opener and pretty much everyone expected the new year to be much of the same for Ferrari, namely Vettel out front fighting for wins and Räikkönen in the lower top five positions hopefully doing enough to score strong constructors points and occasionally thwart the Mercedes duo during the odd race throughout the year.

Seemingly noone thought to tell Räikkönen as the plane landed in Australia, the unflappable Finn looking like the man he once was throughout the whole weekend, seemingly flat chat in every session and showing bags of that old hunger, skill, daring and most of all... speed.

Räikkönen turned many heads in Melbourne despite Vettel being the one to bring home the silverware for Ferrari, outpacing his German four time title winning team mate all weekend, looking like the stronger of the two Ferrari drivers until the fortunate timing of a VSC lead to a turnaround of fortunes for the number 5, demoting Räikkönen to the bottom step of the podium but more importantly proving to a lot of people that there is life in the old dog yet...

With such an exceptional performance from the 'Ice Man' in Melbourne, do you think this marks the revival of one of the most talented drivers in Formula One? For the sake of the fans, I sure hope so...

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Do you think Räikkönen is back to his best? Can the Finn continue his form into the season? Does the 'Ice Man' offer a potential championship challenger alongside Vettel? Let us know in the comments section below!

 

[Gulf Air]

To my regret, I missed the Melbourne broadcast. Thank you, Paul!

 

[Tberg]

nm

 

[samcar304]

He seems to have gotten to grips to the new car quicker than Seb

 

[Tberg]

He seems to have gotten to grips to the new car quicker than Seb

Does he? Other than Valtteri not in p3, it's the same results as last year, though Kimi also had the faster lap than Seb.
In other words, Paul maybe forgot last year's results when opening this thread, as so far Kimi is not more or less back than last year.

 

[John Addison]

If the Kimster likes the car he will be fast all year. He was fast last year until he was raped at Monaco. If Ferrari does not hold him back he will grab a win or two.

 

[samcar304]

Does he? Other than Valtteri not in p3, it's the same results as last year, though Kimi also had the faster lap than Seb.
In other words, Paul maybe forgot last year's results when opening this thread, as so far Kimi is not more or less back than last year.

Yeah, apart from the last part of the race i'd say Kimi looked a lot smoother across the weekend when driving. Vettel done really well to not make any mistakes with Lewis in "Party" mode. but i think as both of them said they still need to "do their homework" in regards to the car. The 0.3/0.4 deficit to Mercedes is alarming but hopefully that closes.

 

[Tberg]

Yeah, apart from the last part of the race i'd say Kimi looked a lot smoother across the weekend when driving. Vettel done really well to not make any mistakes with Lewis in "Party" mode. but i think as both of them said they still need to "do their homework" in regards to the car. The 0.3/0.4 deficit to Mercedes is alarming but hopefully that closes.

There's no party-mode, unless the whole Merc-team are lying to everyone. In the race, Merc wasn't fastest, and maybe it's time to acknowledge Hamilton's skills for doing a flying lap.

 

[samcar304]

There's no party-mode, unless the whole Merc-team are lying to everyone. In the race, Merc wasn't fastest, and maybe it's time to acknowledge Hamilton's skills for doing a flying lap.

There is definitely a quali mode. I'm not discrediting Lewis' ability because i have watched him since he arrived in 2007. unbelievable driver and one of all time greats. The Party mode was just a joke. But he did have his engine tuned up to mode "14" until 5 or so laps to go and he then turned it down to "7". Thats when he started to fall behind quite rapidly. no one can really speculate what that means but he was no doubt just saving the engine. And in a sport like F1 its not uncommon for teams to just blatantly lie (not saying they are or aren't).

 

[Benutzername]

Does he? Other than Valtteri not in p3, it's the same results as last year, though Kimi also had the faster lap than Seb.
In other words, Paul maybe forgot last year's results when opening this thread, as so far Kimi is not more or less back than last year.

Paul did not forget the results from last year. You just did not seem to have understood the point of his.
Kimi was faster than Seb in FP1, FP2, Q1 and Q3 (starting ahead of Seb) and lost the posotion in the race because of the team strategy.
He looked smoother and faster than he did during the last seasons. But was it just a good weekend or has he really found his form again and is able to be equally quick as Seb?

Last year he was 22 seconds behind Seb and lost over half a second in the Qualifying.
During the last years he showed good pace occasionally, but he had a lot of slow days in between.

 

[DaVeX↯]

Please fix the poll...should be:
1) yes
2) no
3) bwoah

 

[gamer19]

Not really.
And tbh I'm quite fed up with this guy and all fake fame about him... all this IceMan image you know... what did he done to justify it ?
He barely speaks to press conferences, with reporters, just some quiet mumbling.
Satisfied - face A. Unsatisfied - still face A.
And all this "he really says what he thinks" are mostly his outbursts toward his poor race engineer, the guy who has to obey, otherwise he would get fired. Fact, most of his "ice berg" is shown when he was yelling "leave me alone!".
Really ice candy man... that's some really mighty bravery.
Alonso - almost exactly the same. "Says what he really thinks". Yeah, to the people whose pay checks got so much zeros less after.
Times when drivers really speaks their minds are long gone now you know...
And btw if Kimi is such a maverick what is Magnussen then ? Did he speak his mind last year when he said... that... to Hulkenberg after their Hungary incident.
Or, perhaps even better example, Vettel - when he at Mexico storms at Charlie himself. How on Earth to name that, it's so far from yelling at your race engineer, isn't it ?

 

[IMrIMike]

There's no party-mode, unless the whole Merc-team are lying to everyone. In the race, Merc wasn't fastest, and maybe it's time to acknowledge Hamilton's skills for doing a flying lap.

They have started it themselves man It was quite obvious in Q3 they still have that little bit of extra performance on demand.

Anyway, Kimi lacks consistency I´m afraid, otherwise he´d be right up there pace wise. Feel like he´s gonna be closer this year, but not quite enough.

 

[djadlib]

Even if Kimi is handling the car better than Seb there will come a moment when he is gently asked to move over for the number 1 driver in the Scuderia. Unfortunatly but that is how team politics work these days. (from a 20+ year Ferrari fan)
But first they need to try to match the speed of Merc without a fortunate virtual safety car

 

[samcar304]

Whilst its sad that the team orders are put in place. at the end of the day your gonna back your best horse... Just how it is :/

 

[Isaac Chavira]

I just feel bad for the HAAS Team mechanics that changed the wheels. You know those two guys feel like trash rightnow. Wonderful effort by Daniel almost catching Kimi. And of course conratulations to the winners!

 

[ShredatorFIN]

Not really.
And tbh I'm quite fed up with this guy and all fake fame about him... all this IceMan image you know... what did he done to justify it ?

Justify what? It's just a nickname, given by Ron Dennis of McLaren, he didn't declare himself "The Iceman"? Nothing to do with the actual driving, it's just a name

Former World Champion, and has his merits. Second highest record for total fastest laps in F1. Most successful Finnish F1 driver ever. Fastest ever laptime in Monaco etc

Now he is getting old, but the "fake fame" you talk about is created by fans. He obviously hates media/PR and has hard time hiding it, but fans seem to like it so why would he learn "media skills" and change his natural personality

Typical Finn, blunt and antisocial. He just happened to become F1 driver, Finland is full of Icemen. Go to nearest bus stop here to try some small talk, to meet a few others. Not everyone is like him, but vast majority is exactly like him, talkative only when boozed up

 

[RichardHessels]

Even if Kimi is handling the car better than Seb there will come a moment when he is gently asked to move over for the number 1 driver in the Scuderia. Unfortunatly but that is how team politics work these days. (from a 20+ year Ferrari fan)
But first they need to try to match the speed of Merc without a fortunate virtual safety car

These days? Team politics been around since teams had more than one car on the track.

 

[Benutzername]

Justify what? It's just a nickname, given by Ron Dennis of McLaren, he didn't declare himself "The Iceman"? Nothing to do with the actual driving, it's just a name

Former World Champion, and has his merits. Second highest record for total fastest laps in F1. Most successful Finnish F1 driver ever. Fastest ever laptime in Monaco etc

Now he is getting old, but the "fake fame" you talk about is created by fans. He obviously hates media/PR and has hard time hiding it, but fans seem to like it so why would he learn "media skills" and change his natural personality

Typical Finn, blunt and antisocial. He just happened to become F1 driver, Finland is full of Icemen. Go to nearest bus stop here to try some small talk, to meet a few others. Not everyone is like him, but vast majority is exactly like him, talkative only when boozed up

One could argue that Mika was more successfull, havi two titles.

 

[ShredatorFIN]

One could argue that Mika was more successfull, havi two titles.

Yeah well depends how you count. By titles, or in terms of points, podium finishes and fastest laps. Anyway, he was fast and showed that he still can be. So there is no fake fame. His "fan popularity" is maybe out of proportion, but not Kimi's fault