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i forgot where i saw the news already... the fact is Kimi is the fastest driver in the history. he is faster than Schumacher and Senna....

Well OK, superhuman may be over-doing it, but he does have a nickname that deserves comic book status: the Iceman. Jenson Button may have secured the McLaren hotseat to race alongside Lewis Hamilton, but outgoing F1 driver Kimi Raikkonen leaves both men trailing in the category marked 'superhuman' The Iceman (a woefully underused way of describing sporty Scandinavians, we're sure you'd agree) was frozen out at Ferrari earlier this autumn and now seems set for four-wheeled frolics on ice as a rally driver. In common with many comic book creations, the Iceman doesn't say a lot and his words aren't weighed down with deep meaning, but his animated F1 driving has been the stuff of dreams... or nightmares, depending on which side of the 'no pain no gain' credo you fall. When Raikkonen's car burst into flames in the pit lane on the first lap of this year's Brazilian GP and drops of petrol trickled into his eyes, rather than leap out of the car, douse his eyes in Optrex and run to an optician, he put his foot to the floor and rejoined the race. The fire went out, but the flammable fluid in his eyes remained. Despite the risk of an incendiary outcome just around the cornea (apologies), he continued for the duration of the race - 70 laps - and finished sixth. Afterwards the flaming Finn monotoned: "I ended up with some drops of petrol in my eye from the fuel line stuck on Heikki Kovalainen's car and then I was engulfed in flames and blinded. I was going to stop, but luckily the flames soon went out." He added, with all the emotion of Schwarzenegger delivering a Hollywood line: "My eyes are still burning, but I'm all right." Driving at speeds of up to 200mph for 70 laps while virtually blinded with your eyes about to combust may seem superhuman or stupid, but this is mere child's play for a man who has been described, often and unimaginatively, as born to drive... brings to mind an image of a baby Raikkonen driving his mother back from the maternity ward with the umbilical cord still attached like a fuel hose feeding a Ferrari. Born to drive indeed. In 2002, while racing for McLaren, Belgium GP fans looked on incredulously as he powered his car into a sea of smoke caused by the blow-up of a BAR Honda. Most drivers would have slammed on the brakes knowing that, somewhere in the dense black cloud, the obstacle of a slain F1 car was lying, but the Finn accelerated into the blackness and emerged from the smouldering plume like the T1000 in Terminator 2. A best qualifying lap was in the bag. And at Suzuka in 2005 he put in a Herculean effort to rise from the back of the grid and torpedo past Giancarlo Fisichella's Renault on the final lap to take the chequered flag. Oh and he won the world championship in his first season at Ferrari. While Raikkonen's F1 driving was dramatic, his interviews were devoid of drama. When he spoke to the media - he preferred not to - he did so in a Dalek-like drawl. He sometimes needed waking up shortly before the start of a race after a power nap - or just a nap - and he could be ruder than Amy Winehouse. His response to being asked if he would get over the disappointment of missing a special presentation involving football great Pele and Michael Schumacher at the 2006 Brazilian GP: "Yeah. I was having a ----." Now the flying Finn is heading for a Formula One sabbatical. He leaves F1 unchallenged as the paddock's monosyllabic maverick. Interviewer: Kimi, have you ever got angry about anything? Raikkonen: Yeah, many times but more in normal life than racing. Interviewer: Can you give us examples? Raikkonen: No, not really. Interviewer: What are the kind of things that make you angry in normal life, as you say? Raikkonen: If you keep asking questions like those.

LONDON: Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen has been named Formula One's biggest earner, pocketing nearly three times as much as the next best-paid driver. Hamilton and Raikkonen The Finn's 2009 salary is

Kimi Raikkonen has signed an "outline agreement" to kick off a second tenure with the McLaren team beginning in 2010, the Mirror newspaper reported on Sunday. The British newspaper said the 29-year-old Finn, who raced with the Woking based outfit between 2002 and 2006, must first reach an agreement with Ferrari, with whom he is under contract for one more season. The Mirror cited "paddock sources" in claiming that Raikkonen is prepared to vacate his contracted Ferrari seat in 2010, but only if the famous Italian outfit pays "all of his 2010 ... salary". The newspaper estimated Raikkonen's 2010 Ferrari contract at nearly $49m USD. The report also said the news ties in with Nico Rosberg's link with Brawn and the Brackley team's burgeoning relationship with Mercedes-Benz. The German manufacturer Mercedes was said to be pushing for Rosberg to replace Heikki Kovalainen at McLaren, but may now have resolved to push the German driver to Brawn and increase its involvement with the Ross Brawn-led outfit.

http://www.f1sa.com/index.php?option=com_c...&Itemid=219

Kimi is currently fastest The Finn set the fastest lap of the sport's first night race; his tenth such achievement in the 15 Grand Prix so far in 2008. It equals Michael Schumacher's standing record of ten fastest laps in the 2004 season, an achievement 28-year-old Raikkonen also equalled as a McLaren driver in 2005.