Iceman – That is the nickname of the Ferrari Formula one-racecar driver, Kimi Raikkonen. Kimi Raikkonen was born to race that he started to show his interest at the age of three. From a young age of eleven, he started his career and he had won National Karting several times before the age of sixteen. In 1995, when he was sixteen, he went for Formula A Karting and proved his efficiency through a wonderful success.
After one year, he participated in the European Series of the Karting Grand Prix. Later it was a showering with the triumphs – Nordic Championship, Finnish Championship, World Championship Races, Formula Super A, Monaco Cup, etc.
Raikkonen entered as a regular Formula One driver, for Sauber Petronas in the year 2001. He was able to get the Super Licence from FIA (Federation Internationale de l’Automobile). In 2002, he joined McLaren Mercedes to become the finishing runner up in the years 2003 in the championship to Michael Schumacher and in 2005, in the championship to Fernando Alonso. That year’s record of history also showed that he is the winner at seven races conducted in the countries like Japan, Belgium, Hungary, Spain, Turkey, Monaco and Canada. He also gained the second places in the competitions held in China, Brazil and France.
In the year 2006, Kimi was working with the McLaren Mercedes team. McLaren car had some problems through out the year and so it could not provide the expected justice to the driving skills of Kimi Raikkonen. That year, not due to his fault, Kimi was only able to achieve the fifth position in the Driver’s Championship.
In 2007, he joined Ferrari and he had become the highest paid driver during that period. He was buying an estimated wage around $51 million annually as the then highest paid driver, Michael Schumacher, was retired by that time. He also got the Formula One World Driver’s Championship, by defeating Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso who belonged to McLaren, by one point.
Raikkonen is well known for his characteristics, as he is has a very cool and carm personality. He is efficient to calculate the race strategies and he is wearing the name Iceman on the side of his helmet design, which is actually prompt for his nature. He is also popular by the names Kimppa, Kimster, and Raikka as these are given to him affectionately by his mechanics.
Jenny Dahlman is the wife of Kimi Raikkonen. Their wedding was on July 31 2004. She was the former Miss Scandinavia and a famous model too. These couples presently live in Switzerland. Snow boarding and ice hockey are the other hobbies of the Iceman.
In the year 2008, Raikkonen and Fernando Alonso got the top positions of the Formula 1 drivers in The Celebrity 100 list of the Forbes magazine. He was the thirty- sixth among the top 100 celebrities of Forbes Magazine in 2008 and acquired the position of 41 on 2007.
