Grand Prix Gold: Malaysia 2003
AUTOSPORT relives the great races of the past: In the stifling heat of Malaysia, super-cool Kimi Raikkonen kept his head as others lost theirs to take his first grand prix victory – and maintain McLaren's winning streak.
It's the dream view any young racing driver fantasises about seeing one day. Driving past the pits, everything under control, serenity inside, a crazy blur of colour and noise on the outside. Forty-five of 56 laps done, pitstops completed, car perfect - good grip, balance and grunt. He looks across to the pitboard, the one with 'Kimi' on the top: P1 +28.5s.
Just like the contrast between the inner clam and the outer spectacle, so there is a paradox between the iceman that is very real - almost pervasive - an art of Kimi Raikkonen's persona and the stored emotion of the boy who planted the seed of a dream in his mind years ago. An impossible dream, from the perspective of the wrong side of the tracks in a bleak, icy place.
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