Formula 1's Radio King Kimi!

Kimi Raikkonen has always been a fan favourite in the Formula 1 paddock, perhaps aided by his no-bull approach and blasé attitude to life. Since 2001, the Finn has been on the F1 grid, with the exception of his ventures into the Rally and NASCAR worlds for 2010 and 2011, meaning he has left his mark on the F1 community, not least of all through some quite stunning car-to-pit radio conversations.  

One that immediately springs into mind comes from Abu Dhabi 2012 as Kimi led the season finale for Lotus while keeping Alonso’s Ferrari at bay. His long race engineer, SImon Rennie, came over the radio to warn Kimi of Alonso’s whereabouts to which Kimi famously larconically replied: “Leave me alone, I know what I’m doing!”  

At an ensuing safety car, Kimi was still leading as. Rennie again got on the mic to remind Kimi to keep his tyre temperatures up. Again, the Finn famously replied, “Yes yes yes yes, I’m doing all of that – you don’t have to remind me every ten seconds!” Kimi would go onto win the team’s first win since it was the works Renault team, and celebrate by ordering 500 t-shirts to the Enstone factory emblazoned with the quotes.  

The Finn is often depicted as clueless by some media outlets and fans, but you can’t argue about his wealth of experience behind the wheel. At the 2013 Japanese Grand Prix Kimi was notified about a drive-through penalty awarded to Felipe Massa behind. Raikkonen’s reply? “Why do I have a drive-through penalty?”. His engineer reiterated that it was in-fact the Ferrari of Massa that had been penalised, Kimi acknowledged and was swiftly on his way again.  

The 2017 Azerbaijan Grand Prix was hectic to say the least, becoming an instant classic. The same can be said in terms of Kimi’s team radio. Having retired the car just before the red flag came out for debris, the Ferrari team was able to work on the car and get it back to a point where they could get back racing. In a frantic dash to make the restart, we were blessed with the following: "Steering wheel! Give me the steering wheel. Hey! Hey!! Steering wheel, somebody tell him to give it to me! Come on! Move!"

At Monza in 2018, it was announced that Kimi and Charles Leclerc would swap seats for 2019. His 2018 at that point had seen a string of third place finishes but it was almost a fairy-tale close to the end of his Ferrari career when the Iceman having held off a charging Max Verstappen who had come from 18th on the United States Grand Prix grid. “F*cking finally!”  

Finally, indeed. The win was his first in F1 since Australia 2013 and his first win in Ferrari colours since the 2009 Belgian Grand Prix.  

Of course, these are just a selection of Kimi’s best moments on the team radio -- there certainly are many more out there. The Finn truly is a man of mystery and intrigue and despite being a man of few words when it comes to the media, he makes his voice heard over the team radio. Which is something F1 fans love best about Kimi.