A deserving champion, Kimi Raikkonen

The most gripping season in Formula One’s recent history has just ended and the most deserving driver in Formula One’s recent history has won the Championship for the first time. But it was not as simple as it seems while reading this, Kimi Raikkonen has come from being down (and nearly out for some people) this season to beat the favorite Hamilton, and the defending Champion Alonso.

Though he was in with a shout coming into the final race of the championship along with Hamilton and Alonso who were 7 and 3 points ahead of him, he had the slimmest chance to win the title, especially after qualifying 3rd behind team mate Massa and Hamilton and just ahead of Alonso in 4th. To take the Championship, Kimi had to win the race, Hamilton must finish 6th or lower, and Alonso must finish 3rd or lower.

All Kimi could do in this race is to come first from his third place start by overtaking Hamilton and his team mate Massa, the rest was up to chance as it depended on where the two Mclarens finished. Kimi made a perfect start overtaking Hamilton before the first corner and later in the race overtook his team mate Massa, to play his part perfectly. What happened to the Mclarens was sheer bad luck for the team which had to come off, as they had been relatively lucky throughout the season when compared with Ferrari. And the final result of the race was just the way it had to be for Kimi – Kimi winning with Alonso 3rd and Hamilton 7th. Kimi won the championship with 110 points with the two Mclarens in 2nd and 3rd places with 109 points each.

So, after winning so many hearts through last 5 seasons Kimi Raikkonen has finally won what he wanted the most and was very close to winning, on two previous occasions – The Formula One World Championship. He believed in himself from the very first race of the season and no matter what the situation was, he always said he could win the championship and when he finally won, he was nearly stunned. We did not see any vibrant and passionate celebration from him, but it was happiness which came through his face and his interview after the race. He speaks minimal compared to the two Mclaren drivers and lets his driving do the talking. He has been one of the most unlucky drivers in the past few seasons and has lost the championship twice coz of pure bad luck. He had his share of bad luck this season as well, and he also committed mistakes which every driver is bound to make, but the important thing is that he kept his cool and produced results when they mattered, no wonder he is called the ‘Iceman’ and the ‘Flying Finn’ by his fans.

Victory for Kimi also underlines the fact that Formula One is a team sport and its not just about having the best driver or the best car. Mclaren had the best car for most part of the season and their drivers were equally competitive, but a major differentiator in the final result was the way Ferrari performed as a team when compared to Mclaren. Also, Kimi’s team mate Massa, played his role brilliantly and the bonding between the two drivers was far better than the uneasy combination of Hamilton and Alonso.

As for Hamilton, I would say “welcome to Formula One”, and I am happy that he did not win the championship. No wonder he is a very good driver, but there are others who are equally good and maybe better than him. Just because he had the best car on show and was a favorite for his team boss does not mean he would be the world champion. He also involved himself in a verbal tussle with his team mate, which reflected his overconfidence and was one of the reasons for his fluctuating performance towards the later half of the season, according to me.

Fernando Alonso was the defending champion and he drove like a champion on many occasions during the season. Although, I have always been his critic, I have started to appreciate him as a driver as the season has gone by. Unfortunately, he could not click in the Mclaren team, the reason for this could be the team boss, his team mate, or he himself, and I would leave it up to him to decide on this. One thing seems sure that he is not going to stay at Mclaren for the next season.

For India, the season ended with an announcement that from the next season, the Spyker team would be renamed as Force India. Vijay Mallya had bought this team recently and by renaming it to include ‘India’ in the name, I don’t think he has done the right thing, considering the current performance of the team (just finished with 1 point this season). Unless Mr. Mallya puts loads into the R&D for this team and transforms it into a competitive car within next 5 months, I fear he will present a rather poor face of India in the world of Formula One.

SUMIT