The Finn’s 2013 campaign with Lotus will be remembered for the opening win of the season at Melbourne and for most of the year, being one of the only men to challenge eventual champion – Sebastian Vettel.
This year with Ferrari however, has been a different story, fraught with disappointing results and car woes. Many believe this to be because of the 2007 world champion’s driving style, his aggressive throttle and brake application does not suit the new brake by wire systems or the increased torque delivered from the 1.6 power units. Here is the Kimi Raikkonen 2014 season review.
The first qualifying session of the season set the mood for Kimi’s season ahead. He dropped out in Q2 along with fellow champions Sebastian Vettel and Jenson Button, a decent race and some help from retirements saw Raikkonen cross the line in seventh position.
Improved qualifying at Malaysia and Bahrain from the Finn produced two sixth places on the grid, but contact with Kevin Magnussen in both races meant he could only finish 12th and 10th respectively.
While Fernando Alonso revelled in China claiming one of only two podiums for the prancing horse in 2014, the Iceman struggled once again scraping through into the bottom end of the points in eighth. A similarly disappointing weekend awaited at Catalunya where he followed his teammate home in seventh place and a lap down on race winner Lewis Hamilton.
We saw a glimpse of the old Raikkonen at the principality of Monaco when he made his way from sixth on the grid to an excellent fourth place behind the two Mercedes cars and Vettel. Unfortunately this was short lived as Max Chilton ran into the Ferrari at Mirabeau whilst unlapping himself under the safety car. He eventually finished 12th after such a promising start to the race.
A five race stint from Monaco to Germany proved to be the worst races of the season for the Finn, scoring just two points from five rounds. After the street race came Montreal, where he qualified 10th, finished in 10th and was the last of the finishers. He finished 10th again at the next race at the Red Bull Ring in Austria.
Thanks to tricky conditions in qualifying at Silverstone Raikkonen dropped out in Q1 and started 18th on the grid. His torrid weekend continued with a first lap incident as he lost control over a bump when re-joining the track. This crash ended his race, caused an hour red flag period whilst the barrier was repaired and meant he could not take part in the mid-season tests taking place the week after.
Round 10 at Hockenhiem was another difficult weekend for Kimi as he qualified 12th and finished 11th. However he will be remembered in this race thanks to an exciting battle between himself, Alonso and Vettel.
The Hungaroring was a positive outing for the Iceman, as a little bit of luck thanks to the weather saw him move from 16th in qualifying to sixth at the chequered flag. Spa-Francorchamps hailed his best weekend in 2014 bettering his team mate for the first time and narrowly missing out on a podium after battling with fellow countryman Valtteri Bottas. This fourth place finish in Belgium would be the Ferrari driver’s best result and only top five result of the year.
Monza proved to be a massive disappointment for Tifosi with Alonso retiring at the end of the main straight Raikkonen finishing a lowly ninth place. The Monza podium was without a Ferrari driver for the first time since 2008.
The rest of the season was just as disappointing for the Finn. He finished in eighth at the night race of Singapore, then a 12th place at Suzuka whilst his team mate retired, ending an 81 race points scoring streak for Ferrari.
The Sochi Autodrom saw Kimi scrape into the points in ninth, followed by his fifth and final non-points finish in 2014, a 13th place at the Circuit of the Americas. Interlagos was a more positive weekend as he finished seventh but just two seconds behind his team mate. The last race of the season at Abu Dhabi was largely uneventful for the Finn starting from seventh and finishing in 10th place.
Raikkonen qualified and finished higher than Alonso just three times all year and only once beat the Spaniard on track when both drivers finished the race. So, all in all, very much a season to forget for the 2007 champion, perhaps the pairing with close friend and quadruple world champion – Vettel, he will fare better in 2015.
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