10 of the best: Kimi Raikkonen’s greatest F1 drives

2018 Italian Grand Prix – 2nd

One of the best performances Raikkonen pulled off during a relatively tough run in the V6 hybrid era as he earned his first pole position of 2018 to shock Ferrari teammate Sebastian Vettel and Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton at Monza.

Raikkonen bullishly defended from Vettel as he led a Ferrari one-two lockout on home soil down to the heavy braking zone at Turn 1, retaining his lead at the start. Contact between Vettel and Hamilton dropped the German to the back of the field, leaving Raikkonen vulnerable to a two-pronged strategic ploy from Mercedes.

Despite briefly losing the lead to Hamilton at an early Safety Car restart, he brilliantly reclaimed the position a few corners later with a bold pass around the outside to send the Tifosi into raptures.

Split by just one second, he traded fastest laps with the Mercedes driver during an intense, race-long battle for the lead before ultimately losing out as he suffered with tyre degradation in the final laps. The win ultimately slipped through his grasp and Raikkonen was left nursing his badly worn tyres home to finish second and record his 100th podium finish in F1.

2007 Japanese Grand Prix – 3rd

Heading into a decisive phase in the closing stages of the world championship, Raikkonen was looking to keep up the pressure after winning the previous round at Spa.

A decision to start the race on intermediate tyres and not extreme wets proved to be the wrong call for Ferrari, as both Raikkonen and Massa pitted in the early laps and subsequently fell to the back of the grid.

Despite dropping down to 21st in torrential wet conditions, Raikkonen recovered brilliantly through the pack – aided by a number of incidents – to finish third. It would mark a hugely important result in his title bid before winning the final two races of the year.

2013 Australian Grand Prix – 1st

Starting seventh on the grid, Raikkonen made early progress as he jumped a slow-starting Mark Webber and demoted the Mercedes pair of Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton to move up to fourth early on.

The Finn turned in a consistent performance and expertly managed his tyres to pull off a two-stop strategy, emerging ahead of the triple-stopping Fernando Alonso and Sebastian Vettel.

He finished up over 12s clear of Alonso after setting the fastest lap of the race in the closing stages, despite being on older rubber en route to scoring his second victory for Lotus to get 2013 off to a flying start.

2009 Belgian Grand Prix – 1st

Caught out by the new regulation overhaul for 2009, Ferrari fell back in the pecking order with an underperforming car. The Scuderia took until the fourth race of the season before it finally scored a point, but improved development led to a stronger second half of the campaign.

Off the back of a run of back-to-back podiums at Hungary and Valencia, Raikkonen had momentum heading to one of his strongest circuits of the calendar at Spa-Francorchamps. Despite qualifying only sixth, a lightning-quick start enabled Raikkonen to surge into second behind surprise polesitter Giancarlo Fisichella.

An early Safety Car period allowed Raikkonen to tuck up behind the Force India driver and on the run along the Kemmel Straight following the restart, the Finn was able make a pass for the lead. The pair shadowed each other into the pitlane but Raikkonen maintained his position, defending from Fisichella throughout to achieve Ferrari’s only win of the season.

2018 United States Grand Prix - 1st

Raikkonen turned back the clocks in Texas in 2018 with a brilliant drive to seal his first victory for more than five years in a thrilling US Grand Prix.

The Finn used his softer tyres to jump title-favourite Hamilton into the first corner and storm into the lead, while his Ferrari teammate Vettel put himself out of contention for the win with an early spin while battling Red Bull’s Daniel Ricciardo.

Hamilton regained the lead with a well-timed pit stop under an early virtual safety car, but unlike the Mercedes driver, Raikkonen crucially was able to make a one-stop strategy work.

When Hamilton eventually pitted for a second time having lost time in traffic and struggled for grip, Raikkonen had done enough to ensure he took the lead, with Hamilton rejoining in third behind Max Verstappen.

A measured, flawless drive from Raikkonen meant he had enough pace to hold off Verstappen and Hamilton and end his record-breaking 113-race winning drought, racking up his 21st and latest victory in F1.

It led to some classic Kimi radio, with the Finn responding to Ferrari’s congratulations by saying: “Yeah thank you - fucking finally!”

2007 Brazilian Grand Prix – 1st

Raikkonen headed into the final race of the 2007 season trailing McLaren the duo of Hamilton (by seven points) and Alonso (by three) in the standings and started the race third on the grid, behind Hamilton and Ferrari teammate Massa.

A strong start saw him attack Hamilton from the outset as he moved to the outside and pulled off a vital move to jump into second, while Hamilton ended up squabbling with Alonso and dropping down the order after running wide on the opening lap.

Issues with his gearbox hampered Hamilton’s chances as he fell further adrift behind Raikkonen, but the Finn still had to complete his own job to guarantee winning the championship.

A mistake from Massa helped his cause, and when Raikkonen set a string of fastest laps he later emerged ahead of Massa after both Ferraris pitted. It would prove a crucial moment in the race, as Raikkonen crossed the line to score his fifth victory of the season and claim the title by a single point over Hamilton, who recovered to seventh.

2012 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix – 1st

A quick-start enabled Raikkonen to gain two positions on the short blast to Turn 1 as he picked off Webber and Pastor Maldonado. Those early gains would prove crucial when polesitter Hamilton dropped out of the lead on lap 23 with a fuel pressure issue, with Raikkonen next in line to inherit the lead.

What followed was one of (the many) classic team radio highlights of Raikkonen’s career, as he shut down his race engineer mid-advice to say: “Just leave me alone, I know what I am doing.”

As it turned out he was correct. The Finn turned in a faultless drive to the flag to fend off a charging Alonso and claim his first victory since returning to the sport.

2003 Malaysian Grand Prix – 1st

Raikkonen benefitted from an opening lap collision between Michael Schumacher and Renault’s Jarno Trulli to move up to fourth having qualified seventh. The decision to run a high-fuel load in qualifying enabled Raikkonen to run longer into the race than polesitter Alonso, which proved vital as the McLaren driver took over in the race lead once Alonso pitted on Lap 14.

Raikkonen was the last of the leading contenders to pit as he remained out until lap 40, allowing him to build a significant lead over the rest of the field.

He continued to dominate proceedings after his stop and ultimately crossed the line nearly 40 seconds clear of Rubens Barrichello’s Ferrari to take his maiden grand prix victory.

2004 Belgian Grand Prix – 1st

In what proved to be a difficult season featuring relatively poor performance for McLaren - in the opening 10 rounds, Raikkonen and teammate David Coulthard’s best result in the MP4-19 had been fifth. But at Spa, Raikkonen would turn in a memorable drive to claim the team’s only win of 2004.

Raikkonen gained from a series of incidents during a chaotic opening lap in Belgium to move up to fifth from his original starting position of 10th on the grid. Raikkonen quickly demoted Schumacher following a Safety Car restart, before squeezing past teammate Coulthard to surge into third.

That left only the Renault pair of Alonso and pole man Trulli standing between Raikkonen and a shot at taking his second victory in F1. He jumped Trulli after the Italian made an early stop, before a spin from Alonso saw the Finn promoted into the race lead after just 12 laps.

Raikkonen drove a faultless remainder of the race, managing a series of Safety Car restarts perfectly to hold off Schumacher’s Ferrari. Raikkonen’s success would mark his first of four wins in Belgium, leading to him being dubbed as ‘The King of Spa’.

2005 Japanese Grand Prix - 1st 

A wet qualifying led to a topsy-turvy starting grid, with the likes of Schumacher, Alonso and McLaren pair Raikkonen and Montoya all down towards the lower reaches of the order.

What followed was a classic race in dry conditions on Sunday, as Raikkonen in the heavily-fuelled McLaren made progress from the off at Suzuka and found himself squabbling with Alonso and Schumacher in a gripping battle over fifth place.

Raikkonen got the jump on Alonso during his pit stop and blasted around the outside of Schumacher on the run to Turn 1 a handful of laps later as he moved up to fourth, which soon turned into second once Jenson Button and Webber had made their respective pit stops.

Remarkably, Raikkonen had reduced a 20-second deficit to race-leader Fisichella to half that figure with nine laps remaining, and continued his rapid demonstration of pace to bear down on the Renault driver at a rate of more than a second a lap.

Starting the final lap right on the back of Fisichella’s gearbox, Raikkonen darted to the outside and swept past the Italian at Turn 1 with a stunning pass to seal a sensational victory – a drive that remains considered to this day as one of the greatest of all time.