I noticed when Kimi was at his peak, he seemed to spend very little time loading the car with maximum steering angle. He was able to rotate the car really efficiently compared to some other drivers who needed to hold on to the maximum steering angle for a while to get the rotation.
Makes me wonder what Kimi could've done on the 2019-2020 Red Bull cars. I know it's ridiculous to even imagine him there, but Albon complained a lot back then because the car would turn too easily with the tiniest inputs and the rear was all over the place. It's a rare type of car behaviour and Kimi woul've liked it.
Kimi has incredible feel (probably the best ever). Any car that can give the level of feel & precision in the front and reasonably stable rear - he will be very hard to beat. We saw that even with the Lotus. In that Red Bull he would not be far off Max maybe even equal on some circuits.
@@Brenooliveira072 If Kimi drove for RB in 2021, i'm ready to bet that Max would've won the championship more easily (Kimi would've taken many points away from Lewis).
What kimi did in qualifying in 2006 goes massively under the radar with a weaker car Some fantastic poles in hungary and hockenheim But also his p2 in silverstone with a damaged car was phenomenal. His race pace was exceptional too. I believe he couldve won a race in spa had they raced there and also his speed in china was frightening Not a single driver past or present would've beaten kimi from 03-06 in mclaren Mercedes
If McLaren didn't struggle with reliability with their cars during those years, Kimi could've won at least 2 titles with them. in 2007 McLaren's pace was just a little bit quicker than Ferrari that year but Ferrari had Kimi. They scored 218 points to Ferrari's 204 points in 2007, but they unfortunately had to be disqualified from the constructors' championship because of the spygate.
Now everyone says Ferrari is dominant car because they have weak driver (Kimi and Massa) who can match 2 GOATs Alonso and Hamilton, the McLaren is bad but they outperformed the car in title contention.
Kimi in his prime at McLaren 2003-2006 was just insanely fast. Monaco 2005 qualifying was one of the best laps ever. He was never again the same driver at Ferrari (despite winning the title there in 2007).
With the Michelin he had a powerful front tyre that suited his point and squrt style enabling him to rotate the car and pick up the throttle very early in the corner going in fast rotate and then huge exit speed with no understeer. Bridgestones had a weaker front end and ran wide, messing up his point rotate and squrt out of the corner style. So his Ferrrari Bridgestone days were not as dominant vs his teammate as McLaren Michelin team mates.
Some people look down on Kimi because he has "only" one championship, but forget that Kimi never had the out and out best car during his entire career. 2005 McLaren was fastest, but way too unreliable, and during his championship year in 2007 at Ferrari, McLaren was the better car. 2008 was ironically the year he probably had best car relative to competition, but the second half of that season was disaster for him. Partly due to mistakes, but also just lot of bad luck and factors beyond his control. Kimi's tally of fastest laps that season is a painful reminder of what could have been. What Kimi achieved with the machinery he had vs. the competition he faced is honestly incredible. The way he almost dragged a year old car to championship vs. Michael Schumacher and Ferrari in the middle of their dominance in 2003 is probably the best illustration of that.
While I was a huge Schumacher fan growing up but Kimi’s performances in 2003 especially wowed me as a 10 year old when I don’t understand terms or phrases like “extracting performances out of a car” or even understand the complex details rewatching all of these race and quali clips after years of watching it just made me understand a lot about how insanely and naturally talented Kimi is. His time at McLaren in terms of his peak performance definitely was his best. It’s a shame he didn’t win 1 or 2 titles at McLaren with the 2005 one very much his title
I care as little about those missed titles as Kimi does. He is one of those very rare drivers where his legend isn’t based on a number. He’s very much the John Daly of F1.
the way they speak about kimi's ability of extracting everything over 1 lap reminds me of what many people say about leclerc. not saying leclerc is in that same level over 1 lap but its something that seems like its the biggest strenght of both
I would listen to Norbert Haug at the end. Raikkonen had incredible race pace. That was his calling card by far. But he also had the incredible 1 lap speed as you sy. This is why he was lethal. He was the complete package. Ferrari offered Kimi the equivalent of what would be $72M/year in 2023 to join in 2007. Kimi was on another level in qualifying and the race in this period. Not just one or the other. Oh and his tyre management was the best on the grid.
@@fx3dv2vg7m said 1 lap speed was biggest strength of kimi and leclerc In leclerc's case yes But with kimi no way. That's wrong. Kimi was a racer too and even stronger on Sundays
I 1000% agree, Kimi prime was in McLaren. I wished they had given him a reliable car. I would take him over Verstappen, Hamilton, Mika, Vetell, Alonso... Maybe Senna,Schu I would rate the same.
The thing which seperates Kimi from Michael or Verstappen is that in his prime he was freaking fast AND also a very clean wheel-to-wheel racer. I watch F1 since 1998, I know every single win from Michael, Mika and Kimi but I can't remember one race where he was really dirty or didn't leave enough space. Very fair, the fastest in the world in the McLaren. In his prime better than Michael and Alonso. Mika and Michael are my two favorite drivers from my childhood and he followed both of them in their teams when they left so these three are the all-time GOATS for me. Kimi was as fast as Michael and as clean as Mika which makes him the ultimate combination of both of them and only 21 wins and 1 title don't reflect that at all
It amuses me that Kimi is the only driver Hamilton fanboys over. The other being Senna but he's no longer with us. Whereas Lewis sparingly praises the other great drivers like Schumacher, Alonso or Verstappen. Aside from being a McLaren legend and a driver to emulate, I think deep down Lewis prefers title rivals that don't brag or play team politics. No matter what you think about Lewis and all the glitz and the glamor, he doesn't go around bragging about his achievement and doesn't play the team politics like Schumacher and Alonso and to a lesser extent Verstappen.
It has nothing to do with that. Kimi Raikkonen was a freak of nature as anyone who saw him in Formula Renault and the early years knows. That's why. Lewis idolized him because he was the fastest since Senna when he was at his peak during McLaren. Same reason I became a fan. The peak that Kimi hit, was not normal. All those names you mentioned are slower than a peak Raikkonen. Obviously Michael was very complete having said this.
@@ciaronsmith4995 No of course. Like I said Kimi was a McLaren legend and was considered the fastest driver in F1 in the V10 and early V8 era. Lewis wanted to become a McLaren legend and wanted to learn from Kimi. But it also helps that Raikonen was a driver that was easy to get along with it even in a title battle. He didn't have the ego or try play the mind games and politics in the media like Rosberg, Alonso or Verstappen did.
@@Beau_Rivage Whilst I understand that he won in dubious circumstances at Abu Dhabi, you cannot tell me that he didn't drive at a high level. In fact, I'd argue he made less mistakes than Lewis during the season. And for Ferrari did fool around a lot in 2022, however Verstappen drove out of his skin and dominated races. Do you not remember Belgium 2022 where he came from 14th to win by 18 seconds? And as for you saying he has 'no racecraft', have a look at Brazil 2016 or indeed Belgium 2022. Yes he's got a dominant car, but he gets the most out of it. And do you know what great drivers do? Make very good drivers like Perez look average.
I wish Kimi had signed for Mercedes instead of Ferrari after his incredible stint with Lotus. Although he won the title with Ferrari, there's just something special about Finnish drivers, their blue helmets and a silver car that fits perfectly.
With the Michelin tyre he had a powerful front tyre that suited his point and squrt style enabling him to rotate the car and pick up the throttle very early in the corner going in fast rotate and then huge exit speed with no run wide understeer slide. Bridgestone tyres had a weaker front end and ran wide, messing up his point rotate and squrt out of the corner style. So his Ferrrari Bridgestone days were not as dominant vs his teammate as McLaren Michelin team mates.
I would disagree that he had a point and squirt style. He liked to carry speed through the corner. More of a U than a V style of driving. Agree with everything else you said, especially about the tyres and teammates. That's spot on.
I've always said there's never been a faster "prime driver" than him. If you were following F1 during 2003-2007, you should know this. Most people now remember him from the funny stuff, the memes, his personality, his "only" one title, etc. But in terms of sheer speed, Kimi in his prime was faster than Senna, Schumacher, Häkkinen, Alonso, Hamilton, Vettel and Verstappen in their prime. Yeah, he didn't break all the records or win 7 titles, but he was completely out of this world at McLaren. It was something we'll probably never see again.
Newer fans will never understand. Theres a reason he got into f1 with 20 races of experience, why he got into mclaren after 1 year in f1 and why he replaced Michael at ferrari.
First screwed by Mclaren unreliability, then by Ferrari politicking. At least he won that one WDC with Ferrari (ironically by sheer luck of Alonso and Hamilton fumbling it just enough).
1:32 brundle was more than on point between 2010 to 2013 was one but especially 2012 and 2010 all these drivers he named plus vettel and Hamilton and even schumi in those times proved their worth And those years had some of the biggest motorsport drivers not just f1 but vergne di grassi kubica , heidveld, barricello, massa, Ericsson hulkenberg koybiashi almost the entire field was a legend or became one either wec formula e dtm or winning things like lemans or the indy 500 Its actually insane that out of 24 driver (2013 22 ) almost the entire field was in some way shape or form the best and don't get it twisted that is rare for 1 grid to have some may not have been great in f1 But its jaw dropping thinking about how much talent those 4 years had
I've always loved Raikonen and I've seen like 4 appreciation vids in the last couple weeks and I'm so glad he's getting the recognition he deserves, I feel like the DTS fans kinda ruined it for a little while, they just keep talking about his later career, any og knows how incredible he really was
I guess it was 2003 where he lost the title to Schumi by 5 points having 6 DNFs in the season. If Mercedes had just a slightly more trustworthy engine he would be a 3x WDC. He definitely was great among the great.
Kimi was not the best champ to adapt to different cars. He just didn't like to bother I guess, but if you gave all drivers the car settings they want, nobody could come close to Kimi, I mean nobody. He was driving that Mclaren faster than it could technically be driven you could actually tell just by staring at the TV screen. As a Schumi fan, I hated Kimi so much back then. And yes, if the car was a bit more reliable, the guy would be 3 times world champion easy. In my opinion, he is the best ever F1 driver when it comes to natural speed and car control.
Yes Kimi was awesome at McLaren. Insanely fast. At his absolute best at McLaren Very Fast the McLaren cars really suited his driving style and he liked the Michelin Tyres.
Agreed if the car was reliable and kimi never left he could have won 2003 2005 2007 2008 2010 and 2012 making him a 6 time champion putting him right with schumi as he wouldn't have won 2003
@@marcstafanov8431you are deceiving yourself, that 2007 and 2008 happened due to Lewis been an absolute chad. Racs in 4 tracks he had never been at and won 2 in his rookie season, won two wet races when his teammates Alonso couldn't control himself. Please stop rewriting history, if the two biggest miracles in F1 history didn't happen, he had a 17 point lead before the last two races, that about 40/42 points with the second fastest car.
Im not a believer in victimisation. Kimi was loved by Mclaren and even after he left Ferrari they wanted him to come back. They offered him drives in 2010, 2011 and 2013 i believe. He was an idiot for turning down the one team that was serious about his car requirement. That team was so loyal to him, it bothers me he didnt appreciate them. Spoilt perhaps. He only has himself to blame for being on the receiving end of Ferrari's mismanagment
like what he said in his dutch 2021 conference, he wouldnt want to change a thing. If he joined mclaren 2010/2011/2013, he would be at the receiving end of the worst mclaren era in 2014 turbo hybrid era. He might not even last till 2021 with how shit alonso and button had to deal with those mclaren
Kimi got offered 50mil per season at Ferrari so of course he went with Ferrari. Those paychecks were only heard of with Schumacher at the time. And 2005 was his to win, but the car let him down with reliability so many times. And in 2006, Mclaren was not competitive enough to fight for the title so it was a logical move to go with Ferrari as he was fustrated with Mclaren's reliability. He had been with Mclaren for 5 seasons already. Sure you can argue that 07 and 08 Mclaren was the fastest car, but still Kimi won a title with Ferrari in 07 straight away and nearly all F1 drivers want to win a title with Ferrari. Hamilton even said it, Vettel said it and i'm sure Verstappen will admit it at some point. Alonso wanted it badly, but wasn't successfull.
I remember thinking about what if Hamilton replaced Montoya instead of De La Rosa in 2006, The line up for the rest of the season would've been Hamilton & Räikkönen, however Lewis was still in GP2 that year, so the dream line up would never happen.
37 year old Coulthard beat Webber in 2007 Coulthard outqualified Mika many times Kimi faced DC at his peak and beat him by a much larger than Mark did Kimi was much faster than Webber as DC has said many times. The actual quali gap in 2003 was the largest DC ever had with a teammate - on average 0.500 slower. And that was peak Kimi. Mark is a joke compared to Kimi.
My impression was Kimi winning the championship took half his motivation away. He got his championship and it was just Kimi enjoying some driving after that. I really enjoyed the Lotus years but at Ferrari, after 2007 seemed to be like a hobby. When he had something to accomplish, he was the best.
@@ciaronsmith4995 Yeah I understand a lot of those factors. But those were my thoughts from watching all those races and post race press briefings. He was clearly wanting the championship and then he got it and it was different after that. I know there are multiple factors involved and I'll be watching, your videos. 👍
@Beau_Rivage massa missed an open goal lad. Kimi had major setup issues with understeer in 08 plus the Santander interference didn't exactly help either Also in 2009 he was by far the best driver in 2nd half of the season. He won a race with a midfield car. Constantly outperforming the car that period. Even before that he was performing well but had horrific luck. It was almost impossible for him to have a clean weekend The one time he had one, he qualified on the front row in monaco ahead of a brawn with a double blown diffuser and then secured a podium finish
@@Beau_Rivage He was mega in 2009. Not sure what season you watched. 2008 was political. They purposely did not incorporate his setup demands - the car just got worse and worse for him. Ferrari hold the blame. That was an easy title for Kimi, but the car was undriveable, since they wanted to IPO in Brazil and win with a Brazilian. Emilio Botin, CEO of Santander had already begun the process of signing Alonso in 2010 already and didn't want Kimi next to Fernando. In F1, nothing is as it seems. There's almost always a political reason behind things. Kimi is the only driver to win in the V10, V8 and V6 eras. He adapts just fine. He just needs an apolitical environment and competent engineers, most of which, he did not have at Ferrari. Cheers.
Again, that's a clueless comment. He had to adapt to new tyres/new team, (which Massa did not have to adapt to), Kimi had more DNFs than either McLaren driver (none down to driver error), a badly injured neck in Monza, and twice as many wins as Massa, while having 2 wins more than either McLaren driver (again despite having more DNFs than the McLaren drivers). For instance, Alonso made huge mistakes in Bahrain, Spain, Canada, Fuji, while Lewis made a driving error in China and dropped the ball at the start in Brazil. Yet you have the audacity to suggest that? Had you actually watched F1, you would know Kimi deserved the title in 2003 & 2005 in addition to 2007. He was the highest paid athlete in the world in 2007 for a reason - arguably the fastest since Senna at his peak during the tyre war era of 2002-2006. Please don't talk about things you don't understand. This is a serious F1 channel. Cheers.@@SDMotorsports
@@SDMotorsports Unluckiest Champion By Far - 2005..2003- against the most dominant era of Ferrari’s ever!.. You have to be a total casual to say what you’re saying. Every single Ex- F1 champ said Raikkonen was the fastest guy around that time & People who actually worked with him STILL say so now..
No one was lookin forward to webber, brundle......you were but that's because you always hype your friends. Literally no one else was. Remember when he has the same car as seb in 2013? And he won a single race??? Yet, seb won the record 9 IN A ROW??!? and won races before that 9 in a row?? I think it was 12.....and Mark won a single race. With hands down the best car, by far. Couldn't even put it on pole. Pathetic
Brundle was 100% spot on, he was naming the young talents, that were above the rest of the field at the time, Alonso, Kimi, Button, Webber. Webber came close to winning the championship in 2010 one year after Button did, but super talent Vettel got it, it was very tight championship in 2010.
I noticed when Kimi was at his peak, he seemed to spend very little time loading the car with maximum steering angle. He was able to rotate the car really efficiently compared to some other drivers who needed to hold on to the maximum steering angle for a while to get the rotation.
Makes me wonder what Kimi could've done on the 2019-2020 Red Bull cars. I know it's ridiculous to even imagine him there, but Albon complained a lot back then because the car would turn too easily with the tiniest inputs and the rear was all over the place. It's a rare type of car behaviour and Kimi woul've liked it.
@@Brenooliveira072 Exactly right. Kimi should have been in that car.
Kimi has incredible feel (probably the best ever). Any car that can give the level of feel & precision in the front and reasonably stable rear - he will be very hard to beat. We saw that even with the Lotus. In that Red Bull he would not be far off Max maybe even equal on some circuits.
i thought red bull and Kimi had talks about him driving for them in 2010 or somewhere around that period?
@@Brenooliveira072
If Kimi drove for RB in 2021, i'm ready to bet that Max would've won the championship more easily (Kimi would've taken many points away from Lewis).
What kimi did in qualifying in 2006 goes massively under the radar with a weaker car
Some fantastic poles in hungary and hockenheim
But also his p2 in silverstone with a damaged car was phenomenal.
His race pace was exceptional too. I believe he couldve won a race in spa had they raced there and also his speed in china was frightening
Not a single driver past or present would've beaten kimi from 03-06 in mclaren Mercedes
Kimi was a top racer who just doesn't give a shit.
Except when he did and was unavailable for social events.
If McLaren didn't struggle with reliability with their cars during those years, Kimi could've won at least 2 titles with them.
in 2007 McLaren's pace was just a little bit quicker than Ferrari that year but Ferrari had Kimi. They scored 218 points to Ferrari's 204 points in 2007, but they unfortunately had to be disqualified from the constructors' championship because of the spygate.
Now everyone says Ferrari is dominant car because they have weak driver (Kimi and Massa) who can match 2 GOATs Alonso and Hamilton, the McLaren is bad but they outperformed the car in title contention.
Not sure the McLaren was faster than Ferrari in 2006, McLaren had a stronger driver pair.
What we all must remember, it was only his hobby.
Like he said. Car is a car anwering to interviewer asking how its like to drive f1. A legend
Making sure his drink bottle was working was his permanent job…
So he did it because he loves racing, not for money
I wonder what was his main career
Kimi in his prime at McLaren 2003-2006 was just insanely fast. Monaco 2005 qualifying was one of the best laps ever. He was never again the same driver at Ferrari (despite winning the title there in 2007).
With the Michelin he had a powerful front tyre that suited his point and squrt style enabling him to rotate the car and pick up the throttle very early in the corner going in fast rotate and then huge exit speed with no understeer. Bridgestones had a weaker front end and ran wide, messing up his point rotate and squrt out of the corner style. So his Ferrrari Bridgestone days were not as dominant vs his teammate as McLaren Michelin team mates.
If only the McLaren had been more reliable
Some people look down on Kimi because he has "only" one championship, but forget that Kimi never had the out and out best car during his entire career. 2005 McLaren was fastest, but way too unreliable, and during his championship year in 2007 at Ferrari, McLaren was the better car. 2008 was ironically the year he probably had best car relative to competition, but the second half of that season was disaster for him. Partly due to mistakes, but also just lot of bad luck and factors beyond his control. Kimi's tally of fastest laps that season is a painful reminder of what could have been.
What Kimi achieved with the machinery he had vs. the competition he faced is honestly incredible. The way he almost dragged a year old car to championship vs. Michael Schumacher and Ferrari in the middle of their dominance in 2003 is probably the best illustration of that.
While I was a huge Schumacher fan growing up but Kimi’s performances in 2003 especially wowed me as a 10 year old when I don’t understand terms or phrases like “extracting performances out of a car” or even understand the complex details rewatching all of these race and quali clips after years of watching it just made me understand a lot about how insanely and naturally talented Kimi is. His time at McLaren in terms of his peak performance definitely was his best. It’s a shame he didn’t win 1 or 2 titles at McLaren with the 2005 one very much his title
Hamilton 2012 was a repeat of Raikkonen 2005
I care as little about those missed titles as Kimi does. He is one of those very rare drivers where his legend isn’t based on a number. He’s very much the John Daly of F1.
the way they speak about kimi's ability of extracting everything over 1 lap reminds me of what many people say about leclerc. not saying leclerc is in that same level over 1 lap but its something that seems like its the biggest strenght of both
I would listen to Norbert Haug at the end. Raikkonen had incredible race pace. That was his calling card by far. But he also had the incredible 1 lap speed as you sy. This is why he was lethal. He was the complete package. Ferrari offered Kimi the equivalent of what would be $72M/year in 2023 to join in 2007. Kimi was on another level in qualifying and the race in this period. Not just one or the other. Oh and his tyre management was the best on the grid.
Kimi 2002/03 is maybe the fastest driver of all time
He was NOT a 1 lap merchant.
@@george._mav That wasnt his take tho?
@@fx3dv2vg7m said 1 lap speed was biggest strength of kimi and leclerc
In leclerc's case yes
But with kimi no way. That's wrong. Kimi was a racer too and even stronger on Sundays
There were a lot of drivers which were fast in Formula One right down to Seb, Max, Lewis, Lando, Alonso but none were frighteningly fast as Kimi.
David Coulthard has the funniest stories about kimi
3 times world champion in our heart 😉
I 1000% agree, Kimi prime was in McLaren. I wished they had given him a reliable car. I would take him over Verstappen, Hamilton, Mika, Vetell, Alonso... Maybe Senna,Schu I would rate the same.
Kimi 2003 = Alonso 2012 = Hamilton 2018 = Vettel 2015 = Schumacher 1994 (performance wise) = Senna 1993
getting actual applause out of flavio for that monaco lap was probably the most convincing thing in this video
If the ‘05 McLaren wasn’t as fragile as spring ice, Kimi would have won the Championship that year.
So happy he won a world title in 07, but I’ll always remember 03-05 was when Kimi hit god-mode
Kimi, Fernando and Lewis are the three fastest drivers from the last 20-25 years for me. Unreachables.
The thing which seperates Kimi from Michael or Verstappen is that in his prime he was freaking fast AND also a very clean wheel-to-wheel racer. I watch F1 since 1998, I know every single win from Michael, Mika and Kimi but I can't remember one race where he was really dirty or didn't leave enough space. Very fair, the fastest in the world in the McLaren.
In his prime better than Michael and Alonso. Mika and Michael are my two favorite drivers from my childhood and he followed both of them in their teams when they left so these three are the all-time GOATS for me. Kimi was as fast as Michael and as clean as Mika which makes him the ultimate combination of both of them and only 21 wins and 1 title don't reflect that at all
It amuses me that Kimi is the only driver Hamilton fanboys over. The other being Senna but he's no longer with us. Whereas Lewis sparingly praises the other great drivers like Schumacher, Alonso or Verstappen. Aside from being a McLaren legend and a driver to emulate, I think deep down Lewis prefers title rivals that don't brag or play team politics. No matter what you think about Lewis and all the glitz and the glamor, he doesn't go around bragging about his achievement and doesn't play the team politics like Schumacher and Alonso and to a lesser extent Verstappen.
It has nothing to do with that. Kimi Raikkonen was a freak of nature as anyone who saw him in Formula Renault and the early years knows. That's why. Lewis idolized him because he was the fastest since Senna when he was at his peak during McLaren. Same reason I became a fan. The peak that Kimi hit, was not normal. All those names you mentioned are slower than a peak Raikkonen. Obviously Michael was very complete having said this.
@@ciaronsmith4995 No of course. Like I said Kimi was a McLaren legend and was considered the fastest driver in F1 in the V10 and early V8 era. Lewis wanted to become a McLaren legend and wanted to learn from Kimi. But it also helps that Raikonen was a driver that was easy to get along with it even in a title battle. He didn't have the ego or try play the mind games and politics in the media like Rosberg, Alonso or Verstappen did.
@@Beau_Rivageerr no. He is just admit it. Better than Alonso. He has major character flaws but he's very talented.
@@Beau_Rivage Whilst I understand that he won in dubious circumstances at Abu Dhabi, you cannot tell me that he didn't drive at a high level. In fact, I'd argue he made less mistakes than Lewis during the season. And for Ferrari did fool around a lot in 2022, however Verstappen drove out of his skin and dominated races. Do you not remember Belgium 2022 where he came from 14th to win by 18 seconds? And as for you saying he has 'no racecraft', have a look at Brazil 2016 or indeed Belgium 2022. Yes he's got a dominant car, but he gets the most out of it. And do you know what great drivers do? Make very good drivers like Perez look average.
@@Beau_Rivage Austria 2019, Verstappen had the inside line. Leclerc had to back out.
More genius from Martin Brundle at 1:25 where every driver he mentioned (aside from Webber, who got extremely close in 2010) went on to become WDC
I wish Kimi had signed for Mercedes instead of Ferrari after his incredible stint with Lotus. Although he won the title with Ferrari, there's just something special about Finnish drivers, their blue helmets and a silver car that fits perfectly.
2:21 that hairline starting so back recived a 10 place grid penalty
Make Kimi great again. Bring Kimi back! 🙌
With the Michelin tyre he had a powerful front tyre that suited his point and squrt style enabling him to rotate the car and pick up the throttle very early in the corner going in fast rotate and then huge exit speed with no run wide understeer slide. Bridgestone tyres had a weaker front end and ran wide, messing up his point rotate and squrt out of the corner style. So his Ferrrari Bridgestone days were not as dominant vs his teammate as McLaren Michelin team mates.
I would disagree that he had a point and squirt style. He liked to carry speed through the corner. More of a U than a V style of driving. Agree with everything else you said, especially about the tyres and teammates. That's spot on.
Ahhhhh, F1 2001 PS1 music... Gracing the Kimi montage at the end. Good job, mate.
I've always said there's never been a faster "prime driver" than him. If you were following F1 during 2003-2007, you should know this. Most people now remember him from the funny stuff, the memes, his personality, his "only" one title, etc. But in terms of sheer speed, Kimi in his prime was faster than Senna, Schumacher, Häkkinen, Alonso, Hamilton, Vettel and Verstappen in their prime. Yeah, he didn't break all the records or win 7 titles, but he was completely out of this world at McLaren. It was something we'll probably never see again.
Newer fans will never understand. Theres a reason he got into f1 with 20 races of experience, why he got into mclaren after 1 year in f1 and why he replaced Michael at ferrari.
imagine kimi in mclaren 2007 and 2008
2 titles easily. He should never have left.
First screwed by Mclaren unreliability, then by Ferrari politicking. At least he won that one WDC with Ferrari (ironically by sheer luck of Alonso and Hamilton fumbling it just enough).
I tend to agree with the conventional wisdom regarding Kimi - he had massive natural talent but was wildly undisciplined.
I lobe watching these clips from early 2000s - especially the track limits :D
Never liked him, but I agree for a few years he seemed to me to be the fastest. Plus he was always a clean driver.
i remember watching races and quali back then and thinking 'how the hell is this guy so fast?'
5:32. Memories.
legend...
The Interview with Lewis what GP is that at?
1:32 brundle was more than on point between 2010 to 2013 was one but especially 2012 and 2010 all these drivers he named plus vettel and Hamilton and even schumi in those times proved their worth
And those years had some of the biggest motorsport drivers not just f1 but vergne di grassi kubica , heidveld, barricello, massa, Ericsson hulkenberg koybiashi almost the entire field was a legend or became one either wec formula e dtm or winning things like lemans or the indy 500
Its actually insane that out of 24 driver (2013 22 ) almost the entire field was in some way shape or form the best and don't get it twisted that is rare for 1 grid to have some may not have been great in f1
But its jaw dropping thinking about how much talent those 4 years had
Yes i was a massive Kimi Fan especially when he was at McLaren.
I've always loved Raikonen and I've seen like 4 appreciation vids in the last couple weeks and I'm so glad he's getting the recognition he deserves, I feel like the DTS fans kinda ruined it for a little while, they just keep talking about his later career, any og knows how incredible he really was
I guess it was 2003 where he lost the title to Schumi by 5 points having 6 DNFs in the season. If Mercedes had just a slightly more trustworthy engine he would be a 3x WDC. He definitely was great among the great.
2 points.
Kimi was not the best champ to adapt to different cars. He just didn't like to bother I guess, but if you gave all drivers the car settings they want, nobody could come close to Kimi, I mean nobody. He was driving that Mclaren faster than it could technically be driven you could actually tell just by staring at the TV screen. As a Schumi fan, I hated Kimi so much back then. And yes, if the car was a bit more reliable, the guy would be 3 times world champion easy. In my opinion, he is the best ever F1 driver when it comes to natural speed and car control.
Yes Kimi was awesome at McLaren. Insanely fast. At his absolute best at McLaren Very Fast the McLaren cars really suited his driving style and he liked the Michelin Tyres.
If he stayed at mclaren im pretty sure he would've won 2007,2008 and even 2010 and 2012 if he had holded his prime longer
No way 2012 it was just the same as 2005. Lewis only lost the season due to bad luck like Kimi.
@@klockenberg2299 okay maybe not 2012 and 2010 but definitely 2007 and 2008
Agreed if the car was reliable and kimi never left he could have won 2003 2005 2007 2008 2010 and 2012 making him a 6 time champion putting him right with schumi as he wouldn't have won 2003
@@marcstafanov8431you are deceiving yourself, that 2007 and 2008 happened due to Lewis been an absolute chad. Racs in 4 tracks he had never been at and won 2 in his rookie season, won two wet races when his teammates Alonso couldn't control himself.
Please stop rewriting history, if the two biggest miracles in F1 history didn't happen, he had a 17 point lead before the last two races, that about 40/42 points with the second fastest car.
@@afallenworld1581 i never discredited Lewis but The Michelin Tyres Suited Kimi's driving style much better
Won Championship with Ferrari but he was at his best at McLaren. Sensational in Qualifying! In 2005.
Im not a believer in victimisation. Kimi was loved by Mclaren and even after he left Ferrari they wanted him to come back. They offered him drives in 2010, 2011 and 2013 i believe. He was an idiot for turning down the one team that was serious about his car requirement. That team was so loyal to him, it bothers me he didnt appreciate them. Spoilt perhaps.
He only has himself to blame for being on the receiving end of Ferrari's mismanagment
like what he said in his dutch 2021 conference, he wouldnt want to change a thing. If he joined mclaren 2010/2011/2013, he would be at the receiving end of the worst mclaren era in 2014 turbo hybrid era. He might not even last till 2021 with how shit alonso and button had to deal with those mclaren
Kimi got offered 50mil per season at Ferrari so of course he went with Ferrari. Those paychecks were only heard of with Schumacher at the time. And 2005 was his to win, but the car let him down with reliability so many times. And in 2006, Mclaren was not competitive enough to fight for the title so it was a logical move to go with Ferrari as he was fustrated with Mclaren's reliability. He had been with Mclaren for 5 seasons already. Sure you can argue that 07 and 08 Mclaren was the fastest car, but still Kimi won a title with Ferrari in 07 straight away and nearly all F1 drivers want to win a title with Ferrari. Hamilton even said it, Vettel said it and i'm sure Verstappen will admit it at some point. Alonso wanted it badly, but wasn't successfull.
Ferrari paid millions to Kimi not to drive F1
@@ilkkak3065 true
I wish Räikkönen and Newman made their Mobil 1 driver swap in 2002 or 2003 before Hamilton and Stewart.
thank you for the golden vids
I remember thinking about what if Hamilton replaced Montoya instead of De La Rosa in 2006,
The line up for the rest of the season would've been Hamilton & Räikkönen, however Lewis was still in GP2 that year, so the dream line up would never happen.
Lewis was supposed to make his debut in China 2006. But Ron decided against it (lewis was also a bit nervous apparently).
Kimi 05 was prob quickest especially in that McLaren MP4-20 (beautiful car btw) just reliability issues killed them Alonso and Renault more consistent
Hamilton loves Kimi! ❤😅
I was the same on Playstation games i was usually in Kimi's Car.
Kimi…!!! 😊😊😊👊👊👊💥💥💥
If he only had better reliability when at McLaren...
Yes on his day he was unbeatable.
Best driver during his McLaren years.
kimi: bowah~
Kimi outqualified Coulthard 33-18.
Webber outqualified Coulthard 31-4.
Quite surprising.
@sadsadasdsadasdsadas I think 36.
37 year old Coulthard beat Webber in 2007
Coulthard outqualified Mika many times
Kimi faced DC at his peak and beat him by a much larger than Mark did
Kimi was much faster than Webber as DC has said many times.
The actual quali gap in 2003 was the largest DC ever had with a teammate - on average 0.500 slower.
And that was peak Kimi.
Mark is a joke compared to Kimi.
My impression was Kimi winning the championship took half his motivation away. He got his championship and it was just Kimi enjoying some driving after that. I really enjoyed the Lotus years but at Ferrari, after 2007 seemed to be like a hobby. When he had something to accomplish, he was the best.
It was politics, car handling and the Bridgestone tyres that hurt Kimi. I have videos on this on my channel. Feel free to watch.
@@ciaronsmith4995 Yeah I understand a lot of those factors. But those were my thoughts from watching all those races and post race press briefings. He was clearly wanting the championship and then he got it and it was different after that. I know there are multiple factors involved and I'll be watching, your videos. 👍
Salut Kimi...............................................
Kimi: Bwoah, brakes are overrated, also, give me the drink!
still the last ferrari wdc
I defy anyone to beat Kimi's time at nordshlife on Forza 1 on the og Xbox in the le mon porche .. excuse my grammar ty
Lewis🤣🤣 always favorite driver
Yes he was at his best at McLaren he was amazing his pace was incredible mind blowing. Unreliable cars unfortunately won title with Ferrari
do you think the bridgestones hurt him that bad. or ferrari could’ve done better?
@Beau_Rivage massa missed an open goal lad. Kimi had major setup issues with understeer in 08 plus the Santander interference didn't exactly help either
Also in 2009 he was by far the best driver in 2nd half of the season. He won a race with a midfield car. Constantly outperforming the car that period. Even before that he was performing well but had horrific luck. It was almost impossible for him to have a clean weekend
The one time he had one, he qualified on the front row in monaco ahead of a brawn with a double blown diffuser and then secured a podium finish
@@george._mav how dare you try to confront him with reality. 😂
Kimi could have done better
@@Beau_Rivage He was mega in 2009. Not sure what season you watched.
2008 was political. They purposely did not incorporate his setup demands - the car just got worse and worse for him.
Ferrari hold the blame. That was an easy title for Kimi, but the car was undriveable, since they wanted to IPO in Brazil and win with a Brazilian. Emilio Botin, CEO of Santander had already begun the process of signing Alonso in 2010 already and didn't want Kimi next to Fernando. In F1, nothing is as it seems. There's almost always a political reason behind things.
Kimi is the only driver to win in the V10, V8 and V6 eras. He adapts just fine. He just needs an apolitical environment and competent engineers, most of which, he did not have at Ferrari. Cheers.
Both. But Ferrari completely sabotaged Kimi in 2008.
L époque de kimi en 2003 qui etait le seul a presque faire tomber Schumacher au championnat
Button aged quite weird over the years
Maybe he shouldn't of left McLaren.
Bwoah...
Overhyped
You really don't know anything about motorsports if you say that. With all due respect.
@@ciaronsmith4995 luckiest champion ever
Again, that's a clueless comment. He had to adapt to new tyres/new team, (which Massa did not have to adapt to), Kimi had more DNFs than either McLaren driver (none down to driver error), a badly injured neck in Monza, and twice as many wins as Massa, while having 2 wins more than either McLaren driver (again despite having more DNFs than the McLaren drivers). For instance, Alonso made huge mistakes in Bahrain, Spain, Canada, Fuji, while Lewis made a driving error in China and dropped the ball at the start in Brazil. Yet you have the audacity to suggest that? Had you actually watched F1, you would know Kimi deserved the title in 2003 & 2005 in addition to 2007. He was the highest paid athlete in the world in 2007 for a reason - arguably the fastest since Senna at his peak during the tyre war era of 2002-2006. Please don't talk about things you don't understand. This is a serious F1 channel. Cheers.@@SDMotorsports
@@ciaronsmith4995 again me all you want ya daft twat
@@SDMotorsports Unluckiest Champion By Far - 2005..2003- against the most dominant era of Ferrari’s ever!.. You have to be a total casual to say what you’re saying. Every single Ex- F1 champ said Raikkonen was the fastest guy around that time & People who actually worked with him STILL say so now..
No one was lookin forward to webber, brundle......you were but that's because you always hype your friends. Literally no one else was. Remember when he has the same car as seb in 2013? And he won a single race??? Yet, seb won the record 9 IN A ROW??!? and won races before that 9 in a row?? I think it was 12.....and Mark won a single race. With hands down the best car, by far. Couldn't even put it on pole. Pathetic
Mark was at the end of his career, but point taken.
Brundle was 100% spot on, he was naming the young talents, that were above the rest of the field at the time, Alonso, Kimi, Button, Webber. Webber came close to winning the championship in 2010 one year after Button did, but super talent Vettel got it, it was very tight championship in 2010.