Iceman Raikkonen can change it all

It is more than anyone could hope for but it does not detract from Raikkonen’s extraordinary season. The driver who in 2001 had people muttering that he did not deserve to be in Formula One, that he represented a potential danger to others, has come of age. Barring a major upset, Raikkonen will not win the championship this year but nobody doubts that his name will appear on it one day. He, and Spaniard Fernando Alonso, are very much the faces of the future.

From the moment Raikkonen arrived in Formula One, he and his managers made sure people noticed him. ‘‘I looked in his eyes and I thought ‘I’ve seen this look before. And I know where I saw that look before’,’’ said former Sauber designer Sergio Rinland of the Finn’s first test with the Swiss-based team. ‘‘And it gave me goosebumps when I remembered that look. It was (Ayrton) Senna.’’

Sauber were convinced but Raikkonen still had to push his case after the governing FIA expressed reservations about a driver who had competed in just 21 single-seater car races before his first Grand Prix in Melbourne. But those who thought the British Formula Renault champion was too inexperienced had to eat their words when he scored a point on his debut, the 50th Formula One driver to do so. A sex ban imposed by Peter Sauber on his drivers for the first few ‘flyaway’ races, to prevent any unwelcome distractions, made more headlines. (Reuters)