Why Formula 1 king Kimi Raikkonen will be hard to overtake this season
The Finnish driver won the World Championship in the closest F1 season in decades. His groundwork over a number of campaigns is bearing fruit and the drivers behind will not find it easy.
by James Mortimer on 10 May 2008
Email this Article (6) Comments
Kimi Raikkonen is not one to shy away from pressure, having an immense pedigree in his career.
Aside from a 10th-place in his debut Formula One season, he has always finished in the top seven of every category he has ever raced. Six times he has finished a racing calendar year in the top two.
The 59th edition of the Formula One championship is shaping up to be another close season. In four races so far this season, there have been four different pole setters and three different winning drivers. The absence of seven-time champion Michael Schumacher and numerous rule changes appear to be having the desired effect of increasing competitiveness.Kimi has already launched his title defence in the most compelling fashion. The season began poorly for Ferrari and the Finn, finishing in eighth place. He came back in stunning fashion in Malaysia, winning his first race. In Bahrain he finished second to Ferrari team mate Felipe Massa – this podium finish saw him overtake Lewis Hamilton in the driver’s championship.
His race in Barcelona was stunning for many reasons. Despite fierce competition from double world champion Fernando Alonso in qualifying, Kimi took pole by a fraction of a second for his 15th pole of his career and his first of the season.
Comments (6)
by Saima Evenstar Azam on May 11, 2008
I also agree that reliability will only turn the title upside down. Having said that, Kimi had the most DNFs last year, but still managed to win the most races and therefore the title. It was Hamilton's to lose though. Kimi must remain the 'iceman' and never put a foot wrong in the remaining races. In qualifying at Istabul, he made some errors on his lap, but we all knew Massa would be strong there and Kimi struggling a bit. In the race, he is always very strong and he has won races from second row of the grid (France 2007). Let's hope he can do it because it's getting pretty close now!
by oceanallgogl on May 11, 2008
often black pulled and went these trees chunk tree We had now
by James Mortimer on May 11, 2008
Thanks for the complement Saima, I put alot of hard work into my articles, and appreciate the genuine reflection of the article. It is shaping to be a good season, but I hope that BMW and other teams can challenge the prancing horse.
I honestly think so! They're falling behind a bit over the recent races, but they'll be back in the front. Kimi's race wasn't exactly good today, but considering he still came third, it's not so bad either (Oz, Malaysia with Massa and Bahrain with Hamilton). Kimi's a strong driver over the year, which is why I think he'll win the title again.
Your article is very good. I myself am a journalism student and enjoy writing on F1 as a hobby. I also have my own website which is a fan-site for Kimi hehe! ( www.darkmaiden.spaces.live.com )
by nuffsaid nuffsaid on May 13, 2008
Raikkonen will be very strong and determined this season,but it is no longer a question of no 1~no 2 driver take the slipstream.Massa,is showing a steely determination looking at the race in turkey.Raikkonen can sometimes switch off the pace but he has a knack for getting it together at crucial stages of the formula season.Massa will not be content to play second fiddle this time around.Moving on to lewis hamilton,i feel that lewis raced the best race of his career so far,he gave everything and there was nothing more he could do to get in front of massa again.Remember lewis breezed past massa with ease allbeit on the hard tire compound.9 times out of ten that brilliant hard aggressive passing move would have been enough to set up a win for mclaren but to no avail.Mclaren need to work on why the soft tire compound slackens off the pace of the red hot ferraris in a straight line.Come monaco it should be a different outcome concerning the mclarens dominence,i think ron denis will be plotting his way around the sreets of monaco just like gene hackman in the french connection!!!
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