If I was ever to go on the lam, the bloke I would choose as the driver of my getaway car would only need to have one qualification. He would need to have more than the average number of k’s and/or n’s in his name; that is, he would need to be Finnish.

They’re an odd race, the Finns. Not only are they fiendishly handsome with their blond hair and blue eyes, but they are intensely laid-back and likeable. But don’t let the fact that they speak slowly fool you, these guys are speed demons. The term Flying Finn may have come from track runners, but the motorsport boys have claimed it and made it their very own.

There is something about the Finns and their ability to drive very fast. It’s a genetic thing; even the Finnish version of Mr Plod realises that they are a nation of leadfoots – speeding fines in Finland are amazing. Jussi Salonoja, a sausage magnate, was fined 170,000 Euros for doing 80km/h in a 40 zone. Didn’t stop him, though!

Finns are over-represented at the very highest levels of motor sport, particularly Formula 1 and the World Rally Championship. They have more world champions per capita than any other nation on earth.

The Finns burst onto the scene in the early 1980’s, with Ari Vatanen winning the WRC in 1981, although they are so good that Markku Alen won the championship before it even existed, winning the FIA Cup for Rally Drivers in 1978. Since then, Finns have had a mortgage on the WRC, winning it 13 times in all.

Vatanen was followed by some of the great names in rallying, Hannu Mikkola, Timo Salonen, Marcus Gronholm. Then there was the impeccable – if humourless – Tommi Makinen and the incomparable Juha Kankkunen who, between them, won eight WRC titles.

A year after Vatanen’s WRC success, countryman Keke Rosberg broke through to be the first Finn to claim the F1 world championship. It took a while, but Rosberg was eventually joined by the Mika Hakkinen who was the last man to put McLaren on top of the F1 pile.

And then came Kimi Raikkonen. Kimi was the man to knock Captain Eyebrows (Fernando Alonso) and Renault off their championship perch – not bad for a guy who looks like he’s 11 years old.

Whether it is dodging the ten squillion trees (a figure that may or may not be accurate, but there is a lot) or staying out of the 188,000 lakes (187,888 according to Wikipedia – which is as reliable as the previous figure) after drinking Koskenkorva that makes them good drivers is unclear.

Equally, it could be the fact that the roads spend a goodly proportion of the year covered in snow and ice that helps them to hone their skills, but whatever it is, they’re doing something right. Those boys sure can drive.