Kimi Raikkonen: the driver debates

25th September 2008, 12:00 by Keith Collantine 53 Comments »

Are Kimi Raikkonen\'s 2008 title chances over? He doesn't think so.

Are Kimi Raikkonen's 2008 title chances over? He doesn't think so.

Kimi Raikkonen, the reigning world champion, is the final F1 racer to come under the scrutiny of our driver debates series and.

With four races left to run Raikkonen is in serious danger of losing his title: he could even fall out of championship contention in Singapore this weekend. What’s gone wrong for Ferrari’s number one in 2008?

Another Hakkinen?

In many ways the two Ferrari drivers have confounded the expectations of them this year: but while Felipe Massa has often exceeded them, Kimi Raikkonen hasn’t always lived up to them.

When was the last time we saw a reigning champion remain with the same outfit and same team mate, yet struggle to beat his team mate as often as Raikkonen has often done this year?

The Belgian Grand Prix showed us Raikkonen at his best. The conditions on the opening laps were made for him: where the McLaren has been the best car on a heavily wet track this year, the Ferrari has excelled in drying conditions. Raikkonen found more grip than Massa did; and unlike Lewis Hamilton he didn’t overstep the mark. He brushed Massa aside on the first lap, motored past a stationary Lewis Hamilton on the second tour, and led most of the afternoon.

But glimpses of such form from Raikkonen have been rare in the second half of 2008, although he started the season with wins in Sepang and Catalunya. It seems the opposite of what happened last year, when he enjoyed a clear up-swing in performance in the middle of the season.

Part of that is down to reliability problems: the broken exhaust in France, the engine failure in Valencia. But those are not the only reasons why he’s scored only 22 points in the last nine rounds.

It is often said of Raikkonen that he lacks the application in matters such as testing and post-race debriefs that his predecessor, Michael Schumacher, was legendary for. Raikkonen’s steely, quiet persona in front of the media probably exaggerates an impression that he does his best work in the cockpit and leaves the technical stuff for others to worry about. But there’s no doubt that, at present, the F2008 is presenting the Ferrari drivers with technical and driving challenges that Massa is doing a superior job of responding to at the moment.

In some ways Raikkonen reminds me of Mika Hakkinen, who could dominate races in the manner of Schumacher, but had other days when he just didn’t figure.

Starting with Sauber

Like Massa, Raikkonen got his F1 debut courtesy of Peter Sauber’s team (one year before Massa, in 2001). It’s amusing to look back at Autosports from seven and a half years ago and read stories of Max Mosley huffing and puffing about how this youngster, with a mere 23 race starts to his name, was not ready to race in F1 yet, and should spend his first few races on probation before getting a full super licence.

Raikkonen’s immediate ease at the wheel of an F1 car quickly eclipsed the presumptions of Mosley and many others in the F1 paddock. The following season Raikkonen was in a McLaren, leaving behind a very put-out former team mate Nick Heidfeld (who had previously enjoyed McLaren’s backing).

He was twice championship runner-up with McLaren in 2003 and 2005 (when his manager believes he should have picked up his first two world titles) and he was due a title when he bagged one for Ferrari last year. But this championship success has not, as many expected, ushered in an era of Raikkonen dominance.

Despite not carrying his late-2007 form throughout 2008, and despite Raikkonen seeming to care just as little for the celebrity of being an F1 driver as he always has, he and Ferrari have re-committed to each other until the end of 2010. Whatever Raikkonen’s problem is this year, it clearly isn’t a great concern to Ferrari. They could easily have signed another world champion – Fernando Alonso – in Raikkonen’s place.

Fastest laps

Another curiosity about Raikkonen, and one that has been mentioned on this site several times, is his propensity for racking up fastest laps. He’s set 34 of them in 134 starts, more than any other driver, bar Prost (41 from 199) and Schumacher (76 from 248). This year alone he’s scored nine fastest laps in 14 starts, many of them races where he otherwise didn’t figure.

What does this tell us about Raikkonen? That he’s a quick driver who’s had unreliable cars? That’s he prioritises race setup over qualifying pace? Or, as he once suggested, that he occasionally gets bored during races and entertains himself by nailing the fastest lap?

As mentioned earlier this week there is now a debate in the Ferrari camp about whether all its efforts for the end of this year should go to Massa, who is 20 points ahead of Raikkonen. Stefano Domenicali said:

The fight for the two titles will be very close. Kimi and Felipe met president [Luca] di Montezemolo who made it very clear that, as usual, Ferrari’s simple target come the end of the season is to win both titles. Both drivers will be working towards this target over the remaining four races, knowing that, as always for the Scuderia, the good of the team comes first.

Is this Ferrari’s way of saying Massa’s their man now? Raikkonen said: “Only when I no longer have a mathematical chance will I be totally at the service of the team.”

It would surely be madness for them to rule Raikkonen out of the championship now hunt after he came from such a long way back to win last year’s title.

Share your thoughts on Raikkonen’s qualities of a driver – and chance of retaining his title – below.

Read more about Kimi Raikkonen: Kimi Raikkonen biography

This concludes the driver debates series on active F1 drivers. The series will return during the off-season to look at some great drivers of past Formula 1 championships.

Read more: Articles in full | F1 drivers (past) | F1 teams (active) | Felipe Massa | Ferrari | Kimi Raikkonen