Kimi Raikkonen was at the centre of controversy when he made his Formula One debut 15 years ago.
FIA president Max Mosley said it was “wrong” for the 20-year-old, who had started just 23 car races, to be granted a superlicence to join the world’s elite drivers in F1.

As was the case when Max Verstappen arrived in F1 last year, the FIA began planning changes to its superlicence. In a further similarity, Raikkonen’s arrival was taken by some as proof that the current generation of V10-engined F1 cars were too easy to drive.

Twelve months earlier, talent spotter Steve Robertson had caused a stir by guiding Jenson Button into F1 with Williams from British Formula Three. But Raikkonen had even less experience.

The eight-year-old from Espoo, just outside Helsinki, had originally dabbled in Motocross before switching to karts in 1987. Within two years he was winning domestic championships. But money was tight for the Raikkonen family, and for years he remained in the Finnish and Nordic ICA championships, unable to branch out into the more competitive European kart racing scene.

Raikkonen was 15 when he had the first chance to race abroad, but he swiftly began to make an impression. In an early appearance at the Monaco Kart Cup, an annual race held on a track using the Swimming Pool section and pit lane of the F1 circuit, he brought his car home despite the steering wheel suffering a breakage – he waved the offending part at his mechanic as he crossed the line.

He was back in 1998 to finish third despite having to drag his kart back onto the course following an early crash. He also won the Scandinavian and Finnish Championships that year. By now Raikkonen had been selected by Peter de Bruyn’s team – he and chassis maker Tim Gillard championed their young charge’s racing prospects as he took a strong second place in the 1999 European Kart Championship.

Raikkonen also had the backing of Peter Collins, who had previously championed British talents such as Nigel Mansell and Johnny Herbert. At Collins’ urging, Robertson began seeking a means to get the youngest into a proper racing car.

Raikkonen made a handful of appearances in the Formula Renault UK championship in 1999, but his Mygale chassis was not a competitive proposition and he returned to karting. However John Booth’s Manor team, which went on to run another future world champion in Lewis Hamilton before making their own arrival in the top flight, took a chance on Raikkonen for the 1999 winter series. He produced four wins from four starts.

Even better was to follow when he returned for them in the main championship the following year. While team mate Danny Watts won the season-opener at Brands Hatch, victory for Raikkonen in the second race at Donington gave him a four-point lead in the championship. He never looked back.

After the first ten races, all of which he finished on the podium and seven of which he won, Raikkonen already had the title in the bag. He’d also made successful forays into the European championship, winning at Donington Park and Spa-Francorchamps – the latter his first taste of a track where he has become an established master.

This brought him to the attention of Peter Sauber, whose team was running the established pairing of Mika Salo and Pedro Diniz in Formula One. Persuaded to give Raikkonen a test at Mugello in September, Sauber was impressed to see the youngster set a best time of 1’26.418 – within a second of Michael Schumacher’s Ferrari:

Sauber put their faith in Raikkonen for 2001

The team planned to place Raikkonen alongside Nick Heidfeld in an all-new driver line-up for 2001. Sauber admitted he had lower expectations of the more junior driver, “but he has surprised us a lot with what he has said about the car and how methodically he worked,” he said. “He is amazingly precise about his impressions in the car.”

But there was a snag: although Raikkonen was able to qualify for a superlicence his lack of experience meant he faced opposition within the FIA. As 2000 drew to a close the F1 Commission prepared to meet to discuss whether he should be allowed to race in F1 the following year.

The driver himself completed his national service and the media was beginning to get the first taste of his undemonstrative style:

On December 7th the F1 Commission voted almost unanimously to approve Raikkonen’s bid for a superlicence. But that wasn’t the end of the matter. FIA president Max Mosley had cast the single dissenting vote, and he stipulated Raikkonen serve a four-race probation period before the superlicence was confirmed.

“I do not believe that they adopted a defensible position in giving an inexperienced driver like Raikkonen a licence,” Mosley fumed. “It is quite wrong given that we have strict criteria for graduation into F1.”

“When there is a major accident caused by the presence of very inexperienced drivers in F1, I’m the one who will have to explain it to the world’s media and television cameras.”

Raikkonen with fellow rookies Montoya, Alonso and Bernoldi

Raikkonen was the only one of the four new drivers on the grid at the 2001 Australian Grand Prix to be given this treatment. CART IndyCar champion Juan Pablo Montoya, Formula 3000 race-winner Fernando Alonso and British F3 runner-up Enrique Bernoldi joined him on the grid – but only Raikkonen made it to the chequered flag in the points.

He gained his full licence with ease and was soon signed up by McLaren as a replacement for outgoing champion Mika Hakkinen. Much as with Verstappen last year, the concerns over Raikkonen’s promotion had proved misplaced.

And when Mosley’s autobiography appeared last year, it avoided any mention of the time he tried to withhold a licence from a future F1 world champion.

Kimi Raikkonen says the Halo driver head protection device he tested this morning did not cause any significant visibility problems.

The structure, which may be mandatory on F1 cars next year, is intended to offer better protection from flying debris. It features two curves bars above the driver’s head and one in front which is pinched at the bottom to minimise blockage to vision.

The Halo cockpit protection device. More pictures

“The difference to the usual driving was surprisingly small,” said Raikkonen after using the device for a single run at the beginning of today’s test.

“The visibility is just a little bit limited at the front but I don’t think this is the final version of the device, so it can be improved further.”

Today was Raikkonen’s final run in Ferrari’s SF16-H before the first race of the year in Australia. “It was one of our best days of testing,” he said after setting the quickest lap of the test so far.

“We could run without a single stop, except for the red flags on track. Maybe we could have been faster on some laps, but in general the feeling was fine and we are more or less happy with the way things are going.”

“Of course there’s always room to improve and work to do,” he added. “Like I said many times, I don’t like guessing so there’s no point in figuring out where we’ll be in Melbourne.”

Raikkonen has been outclassed by team-mate Sebastian Vettel this season despite a solid start to 2015

Ferrari driver Kimi Raikkonen is under increasing pressure as he heads to Silverstone for this weekend's British Grand Prix.

The race tracks of Britain are where 15 years ago the Finn cut his motor racing teeth and earned his chance in Formula 1. Now, he comes to the country needing to make an impression for a very different reason - his job is on the line.

This idea will be met with dismay by Raikkonen's many adoring fans. For them, the famously taciturn Finn is some kind of demi-god, a prodigious natural talent made all the more attractive by his anti-establishment persona.

His grumpy team radio messages and willingness to ignore F1's restrictive codes of behaviour have passed into folklore.


On his way to victory for Lotus in Abu Dhabi in 2012, he demanded his race engineer "leave me alone, I know what I'm doing". There is the YouTube video of him falling off the roof of a yacht, apparently drunk. And the time he entered a snowmobile race without Ferrari's permission under the name James Hunt, whom Raikkonen admires, for obvious reasons.

But the reality of Raikkonen's performances on track has been more prosaic recently.

Ferrari are unhappy and have left no-one in any doubt that Raikkonen has to up his game if his contract is to be extended into 2016.

"Kimi's future is in his own hands," says Ferrari's no-nonsense, straight-talking new president, Sergio Marchionne.

All this is beginning to tell on Raikkonen, it would appear.


At the last race in Austria he lambasted an Italian journalist to whose article on his future he had taken exception.

Raikkonen finished his discourse with: "Write what you want; I don't really care." When he had spent the previous minute or so suggesting he rather did.

Raikkonen has always preferred to do his talking on the track. The problem with that is Ferrari do not like what they are hearing. And unless the 35-year-old's performances become a lot more eloquent very soon, he will be out of a job.
How did it come to this?

What is remarkable about Raikkonen's situation is that it is no more than two months since he and Ferrari seemed to have fallen in love again.

He came into 2015 with serious questions hanging over him, having been crushed by former team-mate Fernando Alonso last season.


In 19 races, Alonso qualified ahead 16 times, and was an average of 0.529 seconds a lap quicker. Raikkonen scored only 34.2% of the points the Spaniard collected.

Raikkonen - and his fans - blamed this on the way the 2014 Ferrari behaved. The Finn has always been super-sensitive to the way an F1 car handles and needs a car that turns in sharply and quickly to be at his best.

Last year's Ferrari lacked front-end grip, a characteristic Alonso could adapt to, but Raikkonen could not.


A promising start to 2015...

From the very first day's running of the 2015 Ferrari, Raikkonen was happier. It had a 'positive' front end, and he felt it was a car he could work with.

The season started well. He was still lagging behind in qualifying compared to new team-mate Sebastian Vettel but the pace deficit was initially about half that to Alonso and otherwise the two were evenly matched.

The Finn split the Mercedes of Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton in Bahrain

After strong performances in the first three grands prix, Raikkonen drove an exceptional race in Bahrain, out-shining Vettel, and finishing second, splitting the Mercedes of Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg.

With Hamilton's brakes failing, had the race been a lap or two longer, Raikkonen would have won.
...but it's all gone a bit wrong

Back in April and early May, Ferrari's only complaint was a wish for Raikkonen to improve his qualifying to stop him compromising his races by having to make up ground at the start. Even then, it was all relative compared to 2014.

However, following Bahrain, Raikkonen finished fifth, sixth and fourth in Spain, Monaco and Canada, in what is undoubtedly F1's second fastest car.

In Montreal, where Vettel climbed from 18th on the grid to finish fifth, Raikkonen threw away third place to Williams's Valtteri Bottas with a spin on his first lap after his pit stop.


Then came the last race in Austria, so far his nadir. Raikkonen qualified 18th after failing to get in a lap in the wet in the first part of qualifying and then crashed out of the race on the first lap, taking Alonso's McLaren with him, when he simply lost control of the car under acceleration in fifth gear.

It was the sort of mistake that would look bad coming from a novice, let alone someone of Raikkonen's standing, and the reaction of team boss Maurizio Arrivabene in the pits, throwing up his arms in exasperation and uttering what looked suspiciously like an expletive, told you all you needed to know.
Can Raikkonen save his job?

So what exactly does Marchionne mean when he says Raikkonen's future is in his own hands?

It is not just improving his performances on track, although that would be a start, particularly in qualifying.

His average deficit to Vettel has grown to 0.471secs over the season so far, excluding the three races where circumstances mean a comparison is not possible. In eight races, the only time Raikkonen has qualified ahead was when Vettel had an engine problem in Canada.

In races, things look better, Raikkonen having scored 72 points to Vettel's 120.

But Ferrari want more than just results. As one insider puts it: "He needs to show his commitment by working closely with the team and trying to sort out what his current difficulties are."

In two different qualifying sessions, his chances have been hit by what Raikkonen claimed were miscommunications with the pits, but which Ferrari feel were at least partially the driver's fault.

In Malaysia, he failed to get in a lap in the frantic seconds before a huge rain shower hit, and missed the cut-off for the top 10 shoot-out.

When he blamed the team publicly for that, Arrivabene took him aside for a stern conversation to make it clear he did not want to hear that again.

Ferrari team boss Maurizio Arrivabene says it is "too early" to decide on Raikkonen's fate at the team

In Austria, where he qualified 18th in slippery conditions, Raikkonen said his failure was due to his engineers not telling him he did not have time for another go, after he had made a mistake on his first lap. Others said, yes, sure, he should have got in a time in the first place.

For his spin in the race in Canada, Raikkonen blamed a post-pit stop engine mode that gave him an unexpected boost in power. The team point out that this mode is standard and that it caused Vettel no trouble.

Then there was the crash in Austria. Even Alonso called it "strange", so bizarre was it to see Raikkonen lose control in that way.

Ferrari have investigated it and can find nothing wrong with the car, no evidence of contact from anyone else, only a sudden loss of grip. Nothing, in other words, to contradict Alonso's assessment that Raikkonen simply lost it, caught by surprise by a combination of the high torque levels of modern F1 engines and the low-grip track surface at the Red Bull Ring.

In Raikkonen's favour, the tracks coming up - particularly Silverstone and Spa in Belgium - are places where he has excelled in the past. He needs to do so more than ever now.
Will Ferrari drop Raikkonen?

Officially, Ferrari insist no final decision has been on Raikkonen's future.

"There are many, many things to consider and now is too early to tell him something or to decide something," Arrivabene says.

"I could look too defensive or protecting Kimi, but we are not even halfway through the season.

"Try to be in my position, and [imagine the effect of] going to Kimi to say you are out or you are in or whatever. I want the guys to be concentrated on what they are doing and to give the maximum."

This is not, clearly, a ringing endorsement, but it tallies with the official line that Ferrari have plenty of time to make up their minds.

However, sources close to the team say that the decision to drop Raikkonen has effectively already been taken - and only a remarkable turnaround in form over the next three or four races will change their minds.

If Ferrari do let him go, that is likely to be the end of Raikkonen's F1 career, for he has already said he will not go to another team if Ferrari do not want him.
Who would Ferrari sign instead?

Who would Ferrari replace Raikkonen with? Their number one choice is Red Bull's Daniel Ricciardo. According to Red Bull team principal Christian Horner, Ferrari "had a sniff" at the Australian last year, before plumping for Vettel, but did not go as far as offering any money.

Ricciardo negotiated a new contract with Red Bull over the winter that locks him to the team until 2018, and Horner says they would not consider selling him.

But if Ferrari come calling, Red Bull may have no choice. You can't make a man work where he does not want to and, given the problems with Red Bull's Renault engine at the moment, Ricciardo might well fancy a change. Plus, Ferrari has a lure like no other team, and Ricciardo has Italian heritage.

As a parenthetical point, Ricciardo leaving might actually do Red Bull a favour in the long term, as with two young drivers in him and Daniil Kvyat at the lead team, and two highly promising novices in Carlos Sainz Jr and Max Verstappen in Toro Rosso, there is a bit of a logjam in the Red Bull staircase of talent at the moment.

Sauber's sponsor-backed Esteban Gutierrez, Force India's capable Nico Hulkenberg and Red Bull's irrepressible Daniel Ricciardo could all be Ferrari targets

Ferrari's main concern about Ricciardo is the potentially destabilising effect signing him might have on Vettel. Ricciardo out-shone the four-time champion last year at Red Bull and Ferrari are very happy with Vettel and might prefer not to rock the boat.

If it's not Ricciardo, their second choice is Force India's Nico Hulkenberg.

Their interest in Bottas, which peaked last autumn, has waned, because he is struggling this year to out-pace team-mate Felipe Massa, who was dropped by Ferrari in 2013 after four seasons of being made to look ordinary by Alonso and was evenly matched with Raikkonen when they were team-mates from 2007-9.

They are also facing pressure from their Mexican sponsors to promote Mexican reserve driver Esteban Gutierrez, however unqualified the former Sauber man appears to be for a race seat at F1's biggest and most famous team.

Kimi Raikkonen has become the first Formula One driver to run with the Halo closed cockpit system.

 
Kimi Raikkonen has become the first Formula One driver to run with the Halo closed cockpit system.
Raikkonen tested the cockpit protection device during Thursday morning's testing in Spain - the first time the system has been seen on an F1 car during a public session.

The Halo, which features a single column down the centre, is designed to shield drivers from flying debris.

Raikkonen tested the Halo for two laps at the Circuit de Catalunya before his team removed the installation.

"The halo is currently the preferred solution among a number being considered by Formula One racing's governing body, the FIA, for potential introduction in 2017, in order to offer better protection for the driver's head," reported www.formula1.com after Raikkonen's test run.

The FIA believes the Halo - a concept originally developed by Mercedes - could stop certain types of debris from reaching the driver in incidents such as that which led to the death of Indy Car star Justin Wilson last August.

The governing body has explored a number of designs aimed at protecting drivers from flying debris after Felipe Massa was struck by a spring from Rubens Barrichello's Brawn during qualifying for the 2009 Hungarian Grand Prix.

Henry Surtees, the son of 1964 world champion John Surtees, was killed in the same summer after he was hit on the crash helmet by an errant tyre while competing in a Formula Two race at Brands Hatch.

Jules Bianchi also succumbed last July to the devastating injuries he sustained at the Japanese Grand in October 2014, although it is not believed improved head protection would have saved the Frenchman.

His father, Philippe, is behind new procedures but believes more must be done.

"I consider that this is a step forward in terms of security," Bianchi told French television channel Canal+.

"It is obvious that in the case of when a wheel comes off, this system would be effective.

"However, in the case of small debris, as Felipe Massa and Justin Wilson (the Indycar star who was killed last August) had, that wouldn't have changed anything.

"So this is a step forward, but it does not solve everything."

Bianchi says such a concept would not have helped his son in his accident at Suzuka in October 2014.
"For Jules, it would not have changed nothing, because it's the extremely violent deceleration that caused the damage that we know to his brain," Bianchi said.

"I think developments of the HANS system to better absorb big deceleration in a severe impact could help in this case.

"This is obviously not me who would raise myself against something that brings more security to drivers, but the version of this Halo system did not convince me and has yet to be perfected.

"Aesthetically, it's pretty bad, and I wonder what the driver gets to see behind the Halo.

"The FIA wished to act after Jules's and Justin's accidents, but it must go further."

F1 race director Charlie Whiting told teams earlier this year that the FIA was making sure the Halo was in place for next season.

The FIA says the proximity of the single, central strut to the driver is such that it should have minimal effect on visibility.

But while most drivers are for pushing for improved head protection, there are some concerns in the paddock over the halo-shaped loop.

Briton Jolyon Palmer, who will make his grand prix debut for Renault at the season-opener in Australia on March 20, said earlier this week that the introduction of driver head protection goes against the traditional values of Formula One.

"I think we need to be careful not to go away from what Formula One has always been, which is an open cockpit," Palmer said.

"It is important to being able to identify the driver, and I think that is a nice touch from the sporting side.

"Rather than just seeing a car go round you can at least see the driver in it, so we have to be careful on that. I am not unhappy with how it is at the moment."

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10. Ferrari Finali Mondiali family portrait with Scuderia F1 drivers Sebastian Vettel and Kimi Raikkonen

The famous Finali Mondiali group Ferrari photo is the moment all of the Tifosi wait for as the season comes to an end. Passionate Ferrari fans from around the globe come together.