Kimi Raikkonen fan blog

2008-09-02T11:11:00.002+02:00

Kimi confirmed as Ferrari driver for 2009

Ferrari and Fiat chief Luca di Montezemelo confirmed at last week's Monza tests that Ferrari will retain the services of both Felipe Massa and Kimi Raikkonen.

There has been mass speculation on the Finn's future in the sport. Many people say his motivation and commitment to F1 is waning. Bernie Ecclestone said that he was never sure if Kimi was actually "in love" with F1.

Well, we all know that Kimi hates his PR obligations more than anything. Though I believe that Kimi is still an extremely motivated driver. It is simply his cool approach to preparing for Grands Prix that lead people to question his drive.

As we've all seen this season, Kimi's main problem has been qualifying. For a number of reasons, he simply isn't getting his tyres and car in the sweet spot over lap. However, he is very quick over a series of laps. Why Massa has been able to nail the qualifying laps is a bit of a mystery to me. I can only speculate that maybe the car suits his qualifying driving style more, I can't be certain.

F1 now heads to Kimi's all-time favourite race track: Spa-Francorchamps in Belgium. Kimi has won the last three Grands Prix there on the trot. I am very hopeful that this race will yield a victory for Kimi and turn his season around. I'm also hopeful that Ferrari have continued to improve the performance of his car over a single lap at last week's Monza tests. Time will tell, but time is slowly running out. Luckily for us and Kimi, the remainder of the races are Ferrari and Kimi Raikkonen race tracks... though there is a question mark over Singapore (the night race!).

Let's continue to give Kimi our support! We can't have Massa or, disastrously, win the World Championship!!

2008-04-27T23:46:00.003+02:00

Kimi wins the Spanish GP

Kimi dominated the Spanish Grand Prix today. Kimi had a slightly slow start but nevertheless took the first corner in the lead. Massa hung on to finish in 2nd while Hamilton finished in 3rd.

The race had quite a few safety car-provoking incidents. At the start, Vettel collided with a car which prompted the first safety car. Heikki Kovaleinen had a truly scary crash today. His left front tyre burst at turn nine, causing him to dart straight off the track into the tyre barrier. He would have been doing 140kmph at that point! Heikki is doing fine but will nonetheless spend the night in hospital as a precaution, according to reports.

Ferrari probably could have won the race by a larger margin, in my view. The safety car incidents served to bunch up the pack which erased Kimi and Massa's gap over Hamilton. Ferrari may also have turned down the revs since this is their first race on the new engine.

The next race is in Istanbul, Turkey in two weeks. This is one of Massa's favourite tracks as he has won there twice in the last three years. Kimi is sitting on 29 points at the moment, 9 clear of Hamilton. Kimi won the inaugural Turkish GP in 2005.

2008-04-26T17:00:00.003+02:00

Kimi Raikkonen snatches POLE POSITION in the dying seconds of qualifying

For a moment, it looked like Fernando Alonso was going to steal the show with his sensational lap time. But Raikkonen, who was behind him on the track, was setting fast sector times that eventually earned him pole position right at the end.

Kimi has been very fast all throughout the weekend except during this morning's practice session. Both Ferrari's and McLaren's finished practice in the middle of the pack.

However, Ferrari shined in qualifying by placing their cars in 1st and 3rd for tomorrow's Spanish Grand Prix. Lewis Hamilton will be starting in 5th, right behind Kubica but, crucially, ahead of his teammate Kovaleinen.

This is Kimi's first pole position of the season. Let's see if he can take a lights to flag victory tomorrow!

2008-04-12T09:29:00.002+02:00

Felipe Massa wins the Bahrain GP to silence critics

Massa' victory at Bahrain was a crucial one. After such a horrible start to the season he will be energized and motivated by his dominant showing all throughout the weekend.

Kimi Raikkonen was also very competitive in the race, but he admitted later that his car wasn't quite there all weekend. Nevertheless, he finished in a solid 2nd place. He now leads the World Championship!

The next race is on April 27th in Spain.

2008-04-05T12:45:00.002+02:00

Raikkonen trailing Massa so far

Kimi Raikkonen finished 2nd in the two Friday practice sessions, right behind Felipe Massa. Massa is certainly out to prove something this weekend. He really has his back against the wall and has to make a big impression this weekend to keep his title hopes alive.

Kimi finished a lowly 9th in today's practice session. Massa finished 2nd. Today's practice session was very unrepresentative in my opinion. Kimi was .70 of a second off Nico Rosberg's chart-topping time. Lewis Hamilton was down in 16th. This obviously does not reflect his true pace.

All the lap times in the practice session were quite far off yesterday's times. This could be as a result of negative track conditions.

Qualifying is due to start in 10 minutes.

2008-03-23T10:41:00.002+01:00

Kimi Raikkonen reigns supreme at Malaysia

Kimi Raikkonen marked the 5th anniversary of his first grand prix victory in style today. The Finn showed the way to Kubica, Kovaleinen, Trulli and main rival Hamilton.

Massa, unfortunately, spun out. What a dreadful start to the championship he is having! He is already 14 points behind Hamilton and 11 behind Kimi. It looked like he simply lost some concentration and spun off.

Kimi nearly took the lead at the first corner but decided not to go for broke and yielded to Massa. Kimi kept in touch with Massa up to the first round of pit stops and narrowly stayed ahead of him after exiting the pit lane. The World Champion set amazing sector times during his in lap and was about five tenths of a second in the pit lane. This provided him with enough of a margin to effectively take the lead. Kimi was then able to pull out a gap of just over four seconds to Massa. Then, a few laps later, Massa spun out.

McLaren were not really in the hunt today, at all. Their race was further compromised by their grid position penalty that they incurred after unintentionally blocking Heidfeld and Alonso in qualifying yesterday.

The next race will be another hot one. Bahrain was been kind to Ferrari in the past.

I will keep you posted on significant F1 news leading up to the next Grand Prix in Bahrain.

2008-03-22T10:06:00.002+01:00

An all-Ferrari Front Row

Felipe Massa took the pole ahead of teammate Kimi Raikkonen. Massa's lap was almost half a second faster than Kimi's, indicating a lighter fuel load and highlighting the fact that Kimi struggled a bit on his final run.

Heikki Kovaleinen will start in third place, ahead of Lewis Hamilton. My suspicion that McLaren were not quite there in terms of pace this weekend was somewhat confirmed by today's result. Kovaleinen himself said that third place was the best that they could have hoped for.

Kimi Raikkonen will be very relieved that he's not starting in 15th place again. Let's hope that Kimi can get his tyres up to temperature quickly and take Massa on the first lap or after the first stop.

It will be interesting to see Hamilton behind his teammate... for the very first time. Will he clear his teammate quickly? Will "team orders" play a part this early in the season? Will Hamilton get frustrated and make mistakes? It is a long, hot race tomorrow and anything is possible.

I hope you enjoy the rest of your Saturday! Let's support Kimi as he takes the fight to Massa tomorrow!

2008-03-22T06:50:00.004+01:00

Ferrari looking solid after Saturday practice

Kimi Raikkonen finished today's practice session in 2nd position, just shy of Nick Heidfeld. Massa was 3rd.

The session was quite inconclusive. The McLaren boys languished in 11th and 16th positions, more than a second off the pace. Lewis did not even drastically improve on his last flying lap on soft tyres, which was odd. Kimi made some small gains on the soft tyre though, but I get the feeling that the Ferrari duo prefer the harder tyres.

Qualifying is about to start. I will have those results for you afterwards.

2008-03-16T15:28:00.002+01:00

A horrific day for Ferrari and Kimi Raikkonen

After making amazing progress in the first lap (from 15th all the way up to 7th), Kimi had to retire from the race due to an engine problem.

Kimi was cutting his way through the pack nicely until getting stuck behind Barrichello. Following a car in the corners is extremely difficult as the car ahead's "dirty air" causes the chasing car to understeer and lose grip. Kimi did eventually pass Barrichello and, after doing so, his pace improved significantly. The Ferrari seems to have brilliant raw speed once in some clear air.

After the front runners had pitted, Kimi was still going and found himself in 3rd place behind Hamilton and Kovaleinen. Unfortunately, while trying to pass Kovaleinen, Kimi made a mistake and darted into the gravel. With the field close together, Kimi ended up at the back of the grid after recovering from his off-track excursion.

Kimi had to stop on lap 43 due to engine trouble. He did, however, score 1 point after Barrichello was disqualified for leaving the pits while the red light was on.

The next race is in Malaysia in a week's time. With Malaysia's long straights and fast corners, Ferrari may have the upper hand. Let's hope Ferrari and Kimi will get right back up to speed and show the McLaren's the way.

2008-03-16T15:24:00.002+01:00

Ferrari qualify in 4th and 16th

Felipe Massa and Kimi Raikkonen will start today's Australian GP from 4th and 16th respectively.

Kimi did not make it past the 2nd qualifying session due to a fuel pump error and will therefore start in 16th.

Ferrari will probably give Kimi a very heavy fuel load so that he can race his way up the grid while others pit ahead of him. We all know that Ferrari's race pace is very strong, so I am hopeful that Kimi will get a positive result.

2008-03-14T17:48:00.002+01:00

The 2008 is GO, GO, GO!!!

Today marked the first day of the 2008 F1 season.

Kimi Raikkonen posted the fasted time in the first session with a time of 1'26"461, a full half a second faster than one of his main rivals for the season, Lewis Hamilton. Kimi showed steady progress throughout the session by consistently going faster bit by bit. Kimi's teammate was 3rd fastest in the first session.

The second session saw Lewis Hamilton reaching the top of the timesheets, but with a time of 1'26"599. Over a tenth slower than Kimi. Kimi finished the session 6th, some 1.6 seconds off Hamilton's pace. Massa was also considerably slower which may indicate that Ferrari were testing race set-ups, etc.

As always, we cannot read too much out of the Friday sessions. The real action and indications of who is where in terms of pace starts tomorrow with the final practice session and the qualifying session.

(image from F1Live.com)

2008-01-25T20:51:00.001+01:00

TESTING NEWS FROM VALENCIA

Kimi Raikkonen completed Ferrari's Valencia testing program by setting the fastest lap time.

His fastest time was just shy of fellow Finn, Heikki Kovaleinen's new lap record (set on Wednesday).

Felipe Massa was 2nd fastest, just under .7 of a second slower than Kimi.

Ferrari's next test session will be in Bahrain from the 4th till the 6th of February.

2008-01-23T22:19:00.000+01:00

TESTING NEWS FROM VALENCIA

The second day of testing at Valencia ended with McLaren's Heikki Kovaleinen on top, followed by Felipe Massa in second and Kimi Raikkonen in third.

Kimi completed a mammoth 108 laps without mechanical or technical problems. Felipe was held back by a mechanical problem during the morning.

Kimi and Felipe will be at Valencia tomorrow for the final day of testing at the Spanish circuit. I will bring you their times tomorrow.

(Image source: www.F1Live.com)

2008-01-23T16:07:00.000+01:00

TESTING NEWS FROM VALENCIA

Yesterday (22 January 2008), Kimi Raikkonen completed over 105 laps and set the 2nd fastest time. Felipe Massa completed 97 laps and ended the day on top of the timesheets.

Kimi's car did not encounter any technical problems, which is very encouraging at this stage of the the 2008 season's preparations. Although problems do (and should)occur during testing, the new Ferrari has so far proven to be reliable.

Kimi and Felipe continue testing today and tomorrow

2008-01-20T22:51:00.000+01:00

Kimi Raikkonen believes that their new car, the F2008, is significantly better than last year's car. The F2007's longer wheelbase made it harder to drive in slow corners and as a result Kimi struggled on twisty tracks like Monaco and Hungary. Fortunately, the F2008 has a shorter wheelbase so performance in the slower corners will be better.

The Ice Man is quoted as saying "So far the car is behaving well and I think we are in a very good starting position"

Ferrari's next test session starts tomorrow and runs till the 24th. So far Ferrari have shown good form with their new car. At last weeks test Kimi completed 237 laps with the 3rd best lap time.

I will keep you posted on the new Ferrari and Kimi's lap times.

2007-11-21T17:39:00.000+01:00

Kimi Raikkonen confirmed as the F1 2007 WORLD CHAMPION

With McLaren's appeal deemed "inadmissable" by the FIA, Kimi Raikkonen has been assured of his first world championship crown. Amazing! After losing out twice in the closing stages of two competitive years (2003 and 2005) Kimi Raikkonen has finally gotten what he deserves.

Kimi will appear in Monaco in a couple weeks to receive his World Championship trophy at the official FIA gala.

2007-07-22T17:06:00.001+02:00

Tragedy for Kimi at the Nurburgring

Kimi Raikkonen simply couldn't overcome his terrible luck at the Nurburgrin today. The Finn made a good start but failed to make the pits after the first lap to change for rain tyres. This meant that he had to crawl around the race track for another full lap, loosing a lot of time. Fortunately for him, their was a long safety car period which nullified the gap between him and his teammate who now lead the race. The race was temporarily stopped so that the track could dry up. At the restart, Kimi was 7th and slowly made his way up the pack... and ended up behind Alonso. For some reason, Kimi was unable to really put the moves on Alonso. This made me suspect that Kimi was maybe going through a tyre graining phase. However the problem was much worse! Kimi suddenly slowed down after turn 1 and coasted around to the pits to retire.

Kimi now trails Hamilton by 28 points, Alonso by 26, and his teammate by 7. Kimi has traditionally been very strong in the upcoming races: Hungary, Turkey, Italy, Belgium, Japan, China, and Brazil. Let's hope he can continue his amazing form to take victory in all the upcoming races! Forza Kimi!!

2007-07-21T16:13:00.000+02:00

Kimi Raikkonen storms to pole position as Lewis crashes!

Kimi Raikkonen recorded his second pole of the season today with a neat and tidy qualifying lap. Alonso qualified second ahead of Massa while Lewis Hamilton flew of the track as a result of a wheel nut coming loose after the hairpin. McLaren said that the blame lies in the wheel gun that apparently did not fasten the nuts properly, ultimately causing Hamilton's huge accident.

I suspect Kimi is carrying quite a healthy load of fuel for the race which means that he will stay out longer before the first round of pit stops. Let's see if Kimi can record his first ever hat trick of wins tomorrow!!

2007-07-08T17:33:00.000+02:00

Kimi does the double!

Kimi Raikkonen continued his great form today by winning the British Grand Prix. This victory follows his win from last week in Frace and moves him ahead of his teammate, Felipe Massa, in the championship standings.

The Finn lined-up alongside pole-sitter Lewis Hamilton and followed him closely up to the 1st round of pit stops. While Lewis was adjusting to his new tyres and fuel load after the pit stop, Kimi put in a new lap record and fast sector times to move ahead of Hamilton. Meanwhile, Alonso stayed out 2 laps longer than Kimi and put in less fuel than Kimi to come out in 1st after his pit stop. With Alonso lighter than Kimi, he pulled out a 5 second lead to the Finn when he came in for his 2nd stop. This time Alonso had to stay in the pits a while longer for fuel while Kimi was pitting in the fast laps, reducing the gap to Alonso by around a second per lap! This allowed Kimi to re-take the lead after his 2nd and last pitstop.

The next race is in the Nurburgring. Let's see it Kimi can win a 3rd race in a row!!

***Once again, I would like to apologize for not bringing you the latest news recently. My telephone has been out of order for 3 weeks, however it is fixed now. Take care.

2007-06-08T22:37:00.000+02:00

This weekend is the CANADIAN GP:

Kimi Raikkonen was 3rd fastest in today's first free practice and 4th in the second practice. Alonso, however, dominated both sessions and was half a second faster than anyone in the second session. Personally, I would not be too troubled by McLaren's pace so far-- we have seen McLaren go very fast on Friday's only to be trounced later by the Ferrari's in terms of raw race pace. Ferrari should step up their game and go for the front row of the grid tomorrow. Let's support Kimi in his quest to pole position and the race victory!!

I will post the 3rd practice and qualifying results tomorrow.

Take care till then.

2007-05-31T20:05:00.000+02:00

KIMI REMAINS OPTIMISTIC FOR THE REST OF THE SEASON

Despite only scoring a single point in 2 races, Kimi Raikkonen remains optimistic for the rest of the season.

The Finn said that before the Monaco GP, he felt good about the car for the first time this season. Kimi was obviously quite
confident that he could bring home a good chunk of points but that hope evaporated after he hit the guard rail at the swimming pool
section in qualifying.

The next race is in Canada on 10 June. Kimi was untouchable in the testing 2 weeks ago where they ran Canada aero and engine specificiations.
Hopefully Kimi can end his string of bad luck then with a great victory.

2007-04-18T01:03:00.000+02:00

Massa wins, Hamilton makes it 2 in a row, Kimi 3rd.

Felipe Massa pretty much dominated Sunday's Bahrain Grand Prix. The Brazilian led for the whole race except when he came in for his pit stops. Lewis Hamilton was impressive again and came 2nd. Kimi Raikkonen got held up behind Fernando Alonso during his first stint before the pitstops. The Finn said that it was very very hard to pass... I hope the FIA do something about all those little aerodynamic parts on the rear wing that prevent cars from slipstreaming! Kimi's performance was neither good nor bad. He was caught napping at the re-start when the safety car went back into the pits. Apart from that he raced consistently and did the best he could with his package for the day.

The points standing shows that Kimi Raikkonen, Fernando Alonso, and Lewis Hamilton all share the lead of the championship.

The next race is in 25 days and takes place in Catalunya, Spain.

2007-04-11T09:03:00.000+02:00

Hi there,

Kimi raced to a dissapointing 3rd in Sunday's Malaysian Grand Prix. McLaren employed a better strategy than Ferrari enabling them to score a victory for Alonso and 2nd for Hamilton. Ferrari were compromised from the start by Hamilton who held up Massa and Kimi. Massa made a few rookie mistakes when trying to overtake Hamilton and ended up going off once. Kimi, on the other hand, was able to overtake Massa when he went off.

The closing stages of the races were exciting. Kimi was closing on Hamilton at a rate of about 0.5 seconds per lap. Kimi would probably have overtaken him if he had another 3 laps.

Ferrari claim to have made certain "compromises" leading up the Malaysian Grand Prix. This may account for their mediocre performance on Sunday. Kimi said that they know what their errors were and how they can be faster in the next race on Sunday in Bahrain. Ferrari were fastest in Bahrain during winter testing.

Cheers for now.

2007-03-27T07:41:00.000+02:00

--Concern over Kimi's engine--

There is some concern at Ferrari about Kimi Raikkonen's engine. At the closing stages of the Australian GP, Kimi's engine started to overheat due to cooling system leak. Ferrari's engine boss, Gilles Simon, insists that the engine was NOT damaged.

The next race is in Malaysia and takes place in 12 days. It is traditionally the hottest and most humid race of the year and, as a result, demands a lot from the cars' reliability. Let's hope that Kimi's engine will stay reliable!!

2007-03-20T07:08:00.000+01:00

Kimi Raikkonen dominated the Australian Grand Prix on Sunday. The Finn led most of the laps, except for a few which were led by rookie Lewis Hamilton and championship rival Fernando Alonso.

Kimi set the fastest lap of the race, a good second faster than anybody else. His teammate, Felipe Massa, finished in 6th position, not a bad result considering that he started the race from last on the grid.

The next race is in Malaysia on 8 April 2007. Let's see if Kimi can win it for us again!

2007-03-16T09:01:00.000+01:00

The 2007 F1 Season starts today!

Today marks the beginning of the 2007 F1 season. Some people have named Felipe Massa as the pre-season favorite, however all of us here are hoping that Kimi will outshine him.

Here is how Kimi fared during the Friday practice sessions.

Session 1: Kimi finished in 19th position. The reason for this is that he merely completed an installation lap and did not do a quick lap. Fernando Alonso completed the fastest time on the wet Melbourne circuit.

Session 2: Kimi finished in 2nd position, 0.4 seconds behind Massa. Kimi was on a very very quick lap but was not able to complete it because the session stopped before he was able to complete his lap. He would probably have been a lot closer to Massa, or maybe even faster, if he completed the lap.

So, it looks like Ferrari are off to a great start so far. I will keep you posted on Kimi's performance and other news about him throughout the weekend.

Just a quick apology: This is my first posting in a long time. For some reason, I am unable to log into my Blogger account at home, so I'm forced to do these postings from University or at an internet cafe.

2007-02-18T15:55:00.000+01:00

Sorry guys, my internet has been offline for a while so I haven't been able to update you on the latest Kimi news.

Kimi Raikkonen and Felipe Massa concluded a test in Barcelona last week at the top of the time sheets. Some people speculate that Ferrari have gotten the upper hand over McLaren at last week's test. Ferrari developed and tested new front and rear wings at the test last week.

Here is a great video on Kimi first Ferrari test:

Cheers till next time!!

2007-01-31T22:19:00.000+01:00

Testing in Valencia: Wednesday
World champion Fernando Alonso went fastest today during testing. Kimi Raikkonen went 4th fastest in only his second day behind the wheel of the new Ferrari F2007. Tomorrow is the last day of testing at Valencia. Let's see if Kimi will be fastest!!

2007-01-29T09:47:00.000+01:00

Massa and Raikkonen will attend an F1 festival in Abu Dhabi on Saturday, 3rd February 2007. One of Ferrari's new sponsor's, Abu Dhabi's Mubadala Development, will be featured on the drivers' caps in 2007.

2007-01-27T16:00:00.000+01:00

Latest news:

Kimi Raikkonen will test the new Ferrari F2007 next week in Valencia. This blog will keep you updated on his progress.

2007-01-26T21:28:00.000+01:00

As you all probably know, Kimi Raikkonen will drive for Ferrari from 2007 to 2009. The Finnish ace started testing this week in last year's Ferrari, the 248. His teammate, Felipe Massa is running in the new car while Kimi familiarises himself with the team.