Kimi Räikkönen, F1-Fahrer

Kaufen Sie Kimi Räikkönen Waren

Kimi-Matias Räikkönen (Finnish pronunciation: [?kimi ?m?ti?s ?ræik?ønen]; born 17 October 1979), nicknamed "The Ice Man", is a Finnish racing driver currently driving for Ferrari in Formula One. He is often considered to be one of the fastest F1 drivers in the sport. He won the F1 Drivers' Championship with Ferrari in 2007. After nine seasons racing in Formula One, in which during his first Ferrari stint he was the 2007 World Champion, he competed in the World Rally Championship in 2010 and 2011. In 2012, he returned to Formula One, driving for Lotus with whom he stayed in 2013. On 11 September 2013, Ferrari announced their signing of Räikkönen on a two-year contract, beginning in the 2014 season. His current contract with the team has been extended and he will remain with the team until the end of the 2018 season.

Räikkönen entered Formula One as a regular driver for Sauber-Petronas in 2001, having carried the shortest of resumes, with only 23 car races under his belt. Having previously only raced in very junior open-wheel categories, he was given his Super Licence from the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA) after a performance delivery promise by his team boss, Peter Sauber. He joined McLaren Mercedes in 2002, and became a title contender by finishing runner-up in the 2003 and 2005 championships to Michael Schumacher and Fernando Alonso, respectively. Räikkönen's 2002, 2004 and 2006 seasons were plagued by severe unreliability from his McLaren cars.

Räikkönen's move to Ferrari in 2007 saw him secure his first Formula One World Drivers' Championship, beating McLaren drivers Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso by one point, as well as becoming one of the few drivers to win in their first season with Ferrari. In 2008 he equalled the record for fastest laps in a season, for the second time. However, with Ferrari's desire to get Fernando Alonso into the team with his Santander sponsorship, Räikkönen left Scuderia Ferrari and the sport in 2009, after only winning one race in that season due to an uncompetitve car.

Räikkönen then went into the WRC to drive a Citroën C4 WRC for the Citroën Junior Team in the World Rally Championship for 2010. Along with rallying, Räikkönen also competed in NASCAR, and made his debut for Kyle Busch Motorsports in the Camping World Truck Series. Räikkönen made his return to F1 when he signed a 2-year deal with Lotus starting with the 2012 season. In his comeback season, he won the 2012 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. His consistent performances allowed him to end the season 3rd in the Drivers' Championship.

In 2008, Räikkönen was among the two Formula One drivers who made it into Forbes magazine's The Celebrity 100 list, the other being Fernando Alonso. He was 36th on the magazine's The Celebrity 100 list of 2008, and 41st the previous year. On the same list, in 2008, he was listed as the 26th highest-paid celebrity overall and the 5th highest-paid sportsman behind Tiger Woods, David Beckham, Michael Jordan and Phil Mickelson. In 2009, Räikkönen was listed as the 2nd highest-paid athlete in the world, behind Woods.

Quelle: Wikipedia