How many more birthdays can Kimi Raikkonen celebrate as an F1 driver?
F1 News
- GPblog.com
Kimi Raikkonen is now the absolute veteran of the F1 field and today he takes another year's 'lead' over the competition. The Iceman' celebrates his 41st birthday. This makes him more than twenty years older than Lando Norris, but you won't notice that in the car.
Raikkonen was considered perhaps the most promising talent in Formula 1 in the early 2000s. Especially in his McLaren years he made a big impression with his pure speed. With a little less bad luck he could have had more world titles to his name in that period. In 2003 he was close to it and especially 2005 slipped through his fingers due to mechanical problems.
From supertalent to stable factor
Since his comeback in 2012, Raikkonen has mainly been regarded as a reliable driver. Last weekend brought him to a new record for the number of F1 starts. For the time being, he will continue to tighten that record, because it looks very much like he will also be in the Alfa Romeo next year.
We will probably never know if Kimi feels old between his colleagues, but if he does, there will be less reason for that next season. His old rival Fernando Alonso will return to Renault. He will be in his forties. Anyway, Kimi, congratulations!