Ice Age 2

In what most fans are hailing as this year’s most exciting Grand Prix, in what has been an already thrilling season, the Iceman, Kimi Räikkönen, has achieved in his first season with Lotus what Michael Schumacher failed to achieve in three with Mercedes—a grand prix victory in his comeback. Yet as amazing as the win was, the unflappable Finn declared with all the enthusiasm of a dial tone. “It is nothing to jump around about.” 

Never before has someone been able to say so much by uttering so little, yet Kimi Räikkönen has built up a cult following doing just that. When asked how about his emotions after this historic win for Lotus, their first since Ayrton Senna’s 1987 victory on the streets of Detroit, the 2007 world champion replied by saying, “Not much really.” 

Makes you wonder. If your maiden win with your new team is not good enough reason to celebrate, one can only imagine what is ‘jump-around-worthy’ for a man who hasn’t won a Grand Prix since Spa back in 2009. When pressed further, all the Iceman could say is “last time you guys were giving me sh*t because I didn’t smile enough but I’m happy for the team.”

Those words may seem to be laced with ungratefulness and arrogance, but there are those who cannot help but warm to his coldness, especially when it comes across in icy one-liners like the one he shot back at the team when reminded that Fernando Alonso was five seconds behind and that they would remind him of the gap. “Leave me alone—I know what I’m doing,” was all that came crackling back through the team radio.

Or, when told to manage his tires and keep all four working, he shot back with “Yes, yes, yes, I’m doing that all the time. You don’t have to remind me every 10 seconds!” 

Yet the irony here is that, as economical as he is with his words, and as media savvy as his co-champions are, you could just about fill up a book with the classics that he has come up with over the years. Like the time he forgot the name of the team he was driving for, referring to them as ‘Red Bull’ when he was driving for Petronas Sauber; or the absolute classic on live television in Brazil in 2006, when confronted by BBC’s Martin Brundle after arriving at the grid late and asked where he was while Pele was honoring Michael Schumacher’s final race, he simply said. “I was taking a sh*t.” 

And if you thought that this persona was brought on by fame, it doesn’t explain how on his debut in Melbourne in 2001, despite being arguably the most inexperienced F1 driver in history, with just 23 car races to his name before being granted a super license, he had to be woken up 30 minutes before the race started because he had fallen fast asleep. 

Then there are his off-track activities that have catapulted Kimi into urban legend status—like falling off his yacht in Monaco after copious amounts of alcohol, racing (and winning) in snow machines when he is strictly contracted not to engage in any extreme sport, or collapsing dead drunk outside night clubs or dancing with blow up dolphins... 

But as entertaining as it may be, Kimi’s motivation and refusal to work with the team outside of the car has been called into question, with some reports claiming that Ferrari tried to pay out his contract for an early exit after getting soundly trounced by Felipe Massa in 2008 and a disappointing 6th place finish in the standings in 2009.

Because while the famous ice cream incident in Sepang, (where, while the race was awaiting a restart, Kimi hopped out of his car and had an ice cream) has earned him the undying loyalty of his fans, or the time when he retired from Monaco and went straight to his yacht while the race was ongoing and drank with his buddies instead of debriefing with engineers, it has caused some serious friction with his teams and cost him valuable opportunities or perhaps another championship.

In Formula One, you’re only as good as your last race, or championship, and while Kimi’s win may be the most popular one so far this season among the fans, the teams are racing for championship points, not Facebook likes; and if Kimi wants to cement his name in history, he will need to turn up the heat on his rivals next year and start cooperating a bit more with his team to make a habit of it.

Sure there will be those that argue that he is refreshing in a grid of robots that don’t own their own voices or opinions. Plus the fact that he won and that’s all that matters—but is that all that it could be? Nobody will argue over his natural speed. He is beyond gifted. But brilliant as he was in Abu Dhabi, he did inherit the win from Hamilton’s retirement; and as much as his talent is never called to question, today’s champion is the whole package, so just imagine what he could achieve if he threw everything he had at it, and not just on Sundays. 

Because as cool as the whole rebel-without-a-cause thing is, it puts his chances of another championship on very thin ice.

Kimi’s win in Abu Dhabi makes him the eighth different winner for the 2012 season and has brought the gap between first place Sebastian Vettel and his championship rival, Fernando Alonso, down to just 10 points with 50 more to play for. 

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