Steve Cooper: On the Limit

With your head typically buried in your work, you grow accustomed to overhearing Kimi Raikkonen's guttural, gravel-churning monotone being broadcast over the media centre's tannoy. It's a dense, unintelligible tangle of chewed-up consonants, delivered by a man who feels that simply opening his mouth to let the words escape fully-formed is, well, just too much hassle.

On Sunday evening, as I half-listened to the post-race press conference while scribbling some notes, an unexpected voice prompted me to look up and check the TV monitors to confirm what I'd just heard. Yes, this was the race winner - but he was no longer delivering one-line answers full of dense monosyllables; he was talking clearly, warming to his theme and actually opening his mouth to let the words go free. At one point, I'd swear I actually saw him smiling.

The signs that Kimi Raikkonen was changing have been only recent - that bullish final stint at Indianapolis last month showed a man finally getting to grips with the F2007. And much of last weekend's in-car footage clearly demonstrated that the recent set-up changes and aero revisions were very much to his liking. But still, I was surprised to see such a striking transformation.

Not convinced yet? Consider the 'old' Kimi - the guy you saw slinking around the paddock during his last days at McLaren, with his distracted gaze hidden behind huge, wraparound black Oakleys.

With his overalls zipped up to his chin, a cap pulled low over his brow and a steely expression fixed to his face, he seemed more machine than man. And his automaton-like responses to questions only seemed to reinforce the fact. This was a man who seemed to have emotionally shut down, who was fully content to no longer have to engage with those around him.

At Magny-Cours, the shades and cap were less visible - occasionally, you'd even see those piercing icy blue eyes and a shock of tousled blond hair. The overalls were casually tied around his waist and he would obligingly stop to sign autographs for the kids in the paddock.

He isn't even 'the Iceman' anymore, really, distancing himself from the soubriquet created by former boss Ron Dennis; the name no longer appears printed on the side of his helmet. Now it's easy to see why.

He's spoken recently of the need to settle in at Ferrari, tune the car to his liking and hone the balance. Given the Michael Schumacher-shaped hole he's invariably had to fill, it's a job that has taken time - a job that has required the barriers to be broken via plenty of human contact.

Kimi's race engineer, Chris Dyer, who previously worked alongside Schuey, also spoke of the team needing to adapt to its newcomer, of the partnership lacking nothing but time to develop a proper working dynamic. Maybe that's now arrived.

Kimi really does seem like a man in the midst of reinventing himself, but who would have thought that the mighty Ferrari edifice - a corporate giant which controls its drivers more than any other team - would have allowed him to blossom into an individual?

Perhaps it's the lack of control exercised over him by Jean Todt. Perhaps he's finally begun to discover his autonomy, and realised the awesome reach of his power within Maranello. Maybe that whole Iceman schtick was just a skilfully manipulated stunt , a facade that was kept up for all those years at McLaren. Maybe this is the 'real Kimi'. Who knows?

But if Raikkonen is finally starting to get to grips with life at Ferrari, beginning to see his place within a much broader scheme of things and to engage with himself, who knows what other hidden depths he may uncover on his voyage towards self-discovery. More worryingly for his rivals, who knows what further super powers he may finally be able to unleash?