Kimi Raikkonen's greatest moments

During his 10-and-a-half seasons in Formula 1, Kimi Raikkonen has established a reputation as one of the most exciting drivers of his generation.

With the 2007 world championship, 20 wins, 16 pole positions and 38 fastest laps to his name, the list of great drives and memorable events is long.

AUTOSPORT has whittled the list down to 10 moments in his career that define the popular Finn's grand prix story so far.

Raikkonen's first Monaco GP was more significant than it seemed © LAT

10 FIRST TIME IN MONACO

As Raikkonen made the leap from Formula Renault 2.0 to grand prix racing in 2001, he never had the chance to race in Monaco in junior categories. His first race therefore came at the highest level.

The bare facts of his weekend are unremarkable. He qualified 15th fastest and was the last finisher, 10th and five laps down. But those numbers do not do his performance justice.

For starters, he was 0.180 seconds faster than team-mate Nick Heidfeld in qualifying. But it was in the race that he really impressed.

He came into the pits with a misfire and looked to be out. A wheel rotation sensor had developed a fault and was mis-reporting what was happening to the traction control system. This led to power being cut and the feel of a misfire.

So Raikkonen was told to get back in the car and sent out with the traction control system deactivated. Despite this disadvantage, his speed remained impressive and he made the finish in circumstances that would have resulted in many sticking the car in the wall.

Raikkonen breezes past Fisichella © XPB

9 FINAL FERRARI WIN... FOR NOW

The 2009 Ferrari was not a race-winning car, but at Spa that year Raikkonen was able to give the team a lift after the accident that had almost claimed Felipe Massa's life a month earlier.

From sixth on the grid, Raikkonen instantly picked up one place thanks to Rubens Barrichello's dreadful getaway in the Brawn. Some judicious, and legally questionable, use of the La Source run-off allowed him to emerge third behind only leader Giancarlo Fisichella's Force India and Robert Kubica's Sauber.

Thanks to the speed he was able to carry off the La Source run-off, Raikkonen was quick through Eau Rouge and blasted past Kubica on the Kemmel Straight, just surviving running too deep at Les Combes and only just preventing the BMW Sauber from passing him. By that stage, Fisichella was clear but a safety car period meant that he got another shot at it.

At the restart, Fisichella had a poor exit from the final corner and Raikkonen was right on his tail exiting La Source. The benefit of the tow plus the fact he had a KERS advantage meant he breezed past Fisichella.

He stayed there for the rest of the race. While he is unlikely to have won without the safety car, and the visit to the run-off at the start, he had still salvaged Ferrari's season with an unlikely win.

Celebrating with new employer Ferrari in Australia in 2007 © LAT

8 VICTORY ON FERRARI DEBUT

Expectations of Raikkonen were sky-high when he joined Ferrari in 2007 and it did not take him long to deliver.

In the Australian GP, he became only the fifth man after Juan Manuel Fangio (Argentina 1956), Giancarlo Baghetti (France 1961), Mario Andretti (South Africa 1971) and Nigel Mansell (Brazil 1989) to win on his Ferrari world championship debut. It is a list that only Fernando Alonso has subsequently joined.

While the details of his victory are relatively mundane - from pole position after controlling the race - he instantly established himself in the hearts of the tifosi with that triumph.

Hamilton congratulates Raikkonen on an unlikely title charge © LAT

7 THE GREATEST OF COMEBACKS

With two races of the 2007 season remaining, Raikkonen was dead and buried in the world championship fight.

Lewis Hamilton had just won the rain-hit Japanese GP at Fuji and was 17 points clear of the Finn. While Raikkonen was still mathematically in the hunt, it would take a disaster from McLaren for him to win the title.

The details of what happened to Hamilton are well-documented. His visit to the pit-entry gravel trap on destroyed rubber in China followed by the disaster at Interlagos presented Raikkonen with a window of opportunity. But he still had to climb through it.

Only two wins would be enough. The Finn won in a rain-affected Chinese GP to go to Brazil seven points down and, with a little help from team-mate Felipe Massa, he won at Interlagos to claim an improbable title.

The first time: Malaysia 2003 © LAT

6 MAIDEN VICTORY TRIGGERS TITLE PUSH

While Alonso starred in qualifying, claiming his maiden pole position for Renault, it was Raikkonen who came through from seventh on the grid in the 2003 Malaysian GP to take his first win.

Sixth at the first corner, he managed to dodge the fallout of Michael Schumacher clouting Jarno Trulli's Renault into a spin at Turn 2 to run fourth at the end of the first lap.

He passed former team-mate Heidfeld on the brakes around the outside of Turn 1 for third, moving up to second when team-mate David Coulthard retired.

Alonso pitted five laps before Raikkonen, who used that extra range to ensure he emerged ahead of the Renault driver. Despite Ferrari driver Barrichello moving up to second, Raikkonen never looked threatened and reeled off the laps to claim his first win as if it was his 20th.

It was his only win of the year, but his consistency ensured he remained in title contention to the last race, ending the season just two points behind Schumacher.

Raikkonen's McLaren is craned away after Nurburgring crash © XPB

5 BATTLING THE FLAT-SPOT

Heading into the 2005 European GP at the Nurburgring, Raikkonen was already 22 points behind Renault's Alonso in the world championship.

He started the race second behind Williams driver Heidfeld, but thanks to his heavier fuel load was clear favourite. He took the lead at the start and looked a certain winner until a massive front-right lock-up at Turn 1 with 26 laps to go.

With 11 laps to go, Raikkonen was effectively racing Alonso for victory - the Spaniard was down in fourth place, 11.825s down, but with Heidfeld and Barrichello ahead still to pit for fuel.

By this stage, the vibration caused by the worsening flatspot was starting to become a problem. Already struggling for grip (which caused the lock-up in the first place), the rules forcing a driver to complete a race on a single set of tyres did allow the replacement of a damaged one, but Raikkonen and McLaren opted to go on.

Alonso was faster. The gap reduced gradually; 11.825s... 10.100s... 8.652s... 7.446s... 6.170s... 4.922s... 4.452s... 4.036s... 3.548s... 2.729s... 1.589s at the start of the final lap.

Raikkonen hit the brakes for Turn 1 and the front-right suspension, which had been taking a pounding thanks to the vibration caused by the flatspot, cried enough and collapsed. It sent him into the gravel and out of the race.

Given the circumstances, it was a bold gamble and one that came so close to paying off thanks to Raikkonen's remarkable work behind the wheel.

"Coming third with Alonso winning would have been better than what we had, but we are fighting for the championship and winning is what we want to do," said McLaren team principal Ron Dennis. "We took a calculated risk and paid the price."

Claiming Spa victory in 2004 © LAT

4 TENTH TO FIRST IN 12 LAPS AT SPA

The 2004 season was far from one of McLaren's finest. Neither Raikkonen nor Coulthard had stood on the podium in the 13 races that preceded the Belgian GP.

Raikkonen looked unlikely to change that when he lined up 10th on the grid, but a flying start down the outside on the run to Turn 1 allowed him to emerge in sixth place despite being forced very wide, and almost into the barrier, by contact with Felipe Massa after turning in on his Sauber.

He then passed Barrichello for fifth at coming off Eau Rouge, laying the foundations for his victory.

After a safety car period to tidy up the wreckage from a first-lap accident, Raikkonen promptly overtook Schumacher to run fourth. Coulthard was his next victim on lap six, meaning that Raikkonen now ran third behind only the two Renaults of Trulli and Alonso.

First Trulli pitted, then Alonso retired with an oil leak, meaning Raikkonen led for the first time at the end of lap 12. When the McLaren driver pitted, he re-emerged ahead of Trulli.

From there, Raikkonen controlled the race, weathering two safety car periods in the final 14 laps to take a sensational win.

Raikkonen's Abu Dhabi radio chat entered F1 legend © XPB

3 KNOWING WHAT HE'S DOING

While the mere fact that Raikkonen was capable of winning a grand prix in his first season back in F1 after two seasons in the World Rally Championship is impressive enough, it was the style of his victory in Abu Dhabi that impressed.

The race is famous for two moments on the radio that have come to sum up Raikkonen's character. Informed he needed to keep working the tyres to maintain temperature under the safety car, his response was: "Yes, yes, yes, yes, I'm doing it all the time. You don't have to remind me."

Later, he produced what has now almost become his catchphrase in response to being told he will be updated on his lead over Alonso. "Just leave me alone. I know what I'm doing," he said.

After running second in the early stages of the race, Raikkonen picked up the lead when Lewis Hamilton's McLaren retired and then controlled the race to perfection. Although it should be noted that he had let his tyre temperature drop under the safety car, something that might have made life more difficult at the restart had Alonso not run wide at the final corner and dropped back.

"A lot was made about his comments in Abu Dhabi," said Lotus trackside operations director Alan Permane of this famous moment. "But some of it was very valid. His tyre temperatures were too low and he can't see that or judge that behind the safety car. So it was a valid bit of information."

No matter. Another layer had been added to the Raikkonen legend.

Few so inexperienced had ever driven an F1 car, but Raikkonen wowed Sauber © LAT

2 IMPRESSING MICHAEL SCHUMACHER

September 12-14 2000 stand as the key days of Raikkonen's grand prix career. Given an opportunity to test for Sauber at Mugello, he was seriously impressive.

Also running at Mugello on the second and third days of that test was a certain Michael Schumacher. The Ferrari driver was so impressed by what he saw from the Sauber with the unknown driver that he enquired as to his identity.

Those involved with the test recall that, given his inexperience, Raikkonen's performance was remarkable. When fuel loads were changed, he gained or lost the expected lap time, the pace came relatively quickly and, most incredibly, he was able to be relatively consistent over a stint.

For Sauber, the choice of driver line-up for 2001 boiled down to either Raikkonen, who did not even have a superlicence, or Red Bull-supported Enrique Bernoldi. After testing the pair together, Peter Sauber opted for the Finn.

Following an intensive test and fitness programme, Raikkonen went on to claim a point in his first grand prix.

Raikkonen looms behind Fisichella... © LAT

1 LAST-LAP DRAMA AT SUZUKA

Thanks to ill-timed rain in qualifying, Raikkonen lined up 17th on the grid for the Japanese Grand Prix at Suzuka.

He completed the first lap in 12th and continued to climb the order, passing Michael Schumacher along the way, but it all came down to a final-stint chase of Renault's Giancarlo Fisichella.

With seven laps remaining, the Finn was 5.470 seconds behind Fisichella, and the chase was on. Six laps to go, 4.315s... Five laps to go, 3.078s... Four laps to go, 1.808s... Three laps to go, 0.510s.

Fisichella was now in defensive mode and on the penultimate lap had to hold the inside line into the chicane. He was slow onto the start/finish straight and Raikkonen had a run on him.

The Renault held a defensive line into the rapid Turn 1 sweep, but the McLaren swept around the outside to take a sensational last-lap victory.