Thawed Genius

The Ferrari ace's icy persona melted when STEVE COOPER got him talking. Here, then, is the most candid and revealing Kimi Raikkonen interview you will ever read...

Kimi Raikkonen rolls into the airy Ferrari press motorhome, removes his black wraparound shades and sits down. I'll be honest, I hadn't particularly been looking forward to this - trying to tackle the unenthusiastic monotone, attempting to tease more than one-word answers from an uncommunicative subject, and generally just trying to engage with somebody who has become notorious for his indifference towards interviewers.

When we wrap up some half an hour later, Kimi smiles sweetly, plonks his shades back over his eyes and disappears back to the Ferrari transporters. Team press officer Luca Colajanni and myself swap glances. "Well," says Luca, with a look of pleasant surprise.

"I've never known Kimi to speak as openly as that." Indeed. Maybe the planets were in alignment for those scant 30 minutes, maybe he was just keen to talk, maybe he felt more at ease talking to a familiar face (I first started writing about Kimi when I covered Formula Renault for Motorsport News back in 2000).

Whatever, during the interview, Kimi speaks as he has never spoken before: openly, honestly and effusively. He's just as happy to chew the fat about his failure to deliver at Ferrari as he is to discuss the cracks in his relationship with Ron Dennis at McLaren; as keen to talk about his life in the pages of tabloid newspapers as he is discussing the shortcomings of his relationship with Michael Schumacher.

Since you arrived in Formula 1, you haven't really changed much as a person, have you?

[laughs] "Should I have? I still enjoy doing the same things I did before I got into Formula 1 - it's just a bit more difficult to do them now!"

Have you found it tricky to remain the same person?

"In certain ways, yes. If you're at home or with your friends then you can be normal, but when you're out in public or with other people then it's a lot harder. You get people looking at you and watching you; it's not nice. And then you get shit in the newspapers.

"It happens sometimes - and it will happen again in the future. It's just part of my life. When people discover a good story - something they can make money out of - then it doesn't matter if they are nice people, they're always going to think the worst about you."

So does reading 'shit' about yourself in the newspapers ever stop you from doing what you like?

[shrugs] "Why should it? If other people don't like what I do, I can't change them. And I like doing what I'm doing, so why stop? I'm not going to stop doing something just because some people don't like it."

Is that how you deal with your life - by just blanking off the negatives?

"Maybe, [sighs] but there's so much shit in the newspapers and there are always people who don't like you. And you just can't care about what they talk about because if you think about it too much, then it's going to affect you.

"I don't read many magazines anymore - you don't want to read them when you know you're going to end up in them! And, of course, there are days when you don't want to look at them." [He's referring to the bad press he earned between his victories in Australia and France, when he was widely maligned for failing to be the Ferrari standard bearer.]

So is driving the car one of life's greatest pleasures?

"I think so, that's the main reason I'm here - the driving. That's the only thing I love about Formula 1. If I had to deal with everything else in F1, then I would stop - but the driving makes me want to keep going. Of course, there are other parts of the job, but the main thing is the driving, and it always will be."

Ron Dennis famously tried to dissuade you from joining Ferrari by telling you that the world title was merely a 'badge'. Is it more important to you to be recognised as F1's fastest driver than it is to be recognised as a world champion?

"Well, if you look at what people are currently saying, they're saying neither about me at the moment [laughs]! I mean, it depends how the season goes - I have good races and I read nice things about me in the newspapers. And if I have bad races, the same people write completely different stories. Of course, you can be the quickest and still not win. The world championship is a nice thing to win but it won't be the end of my world if I don't win it. I'll still have a nice life anyhow."

FALLOUT AT McLAREN

A wilful and intransigent figure, Kimi is someone to whom it's difficult to offer direction; the more you try and rein him in, the more wayward he becomes. It was a philosophy at odds with McLaren's controlling approach - and took its toll on the relationship, particularly with Ron Dennis, who worked hard to mould Raikkonen into the complete McLaren driver.

Talking of Ron, your last year at McLaren seemed pretty difficult - was it quite political within the team at the end?

"Yeah, the main thing was that I had a different way of working from many of the guys at McLaren. I did my own thing and didn't really care too much about the other stuff that goes with the job. But I wouldn't say I had a bad experience there; I had a good time with the team and had some really good people to work with. Of course, there were also some times when it wasn't so easy. At Ferrari, they leave me alone a bit more; I do my work, I do my racing and I live my life."

Did that need to control your own destiny mean that you came into conflict with Ron Dennis?

"I think so. Ron likes to know what people are doing. And when there's somebody like me in the team who doesn't like to get involved in that way then there are always going to be difficulties. But even when I first joined McLaren, I made it clear that I'd be doing things on my own - so they knew what I was like from the moment I went there. Maybe it wasn't the easiest thing for them to deal with, but it never affected my racing."

Given the success of the MP4-22, do you regret leaving McLaren at the end of last year?

"Erm, not really. We had some good times and bad times there. And every second year they seem to develop a good package - and this season is one of those years. But things change so quickly in this sport; before the start of the year, I said that I'd enjoy being here at Ferrari no matter what happened in the championship. Even if McLaren is strong, I'll still enjoy my life, and that's important for me."

GETTING TO GRIPS WITH 2007

As the highest paid driver in the sport, Raikkonen carries big responsibilities on his shoulders. And while recent victories in the French and British Grands Prix underlined his pace, it only allayed the growing feeling that Kimi has yet to fully deliver at Ferrari. So what has life been like inside the Scuderia over the past six months?

What have been the difficulties for you in coming to Ferrari?

"Outside of driving, the team is very nice - and it's full of very supportive, professional people. Of course, the personal combinations are still new so it's taking time for us to get used to working together; for them to know what I want and for me to know what they want. But we're getting there; I like the people and I like the team. It's what I expected."

But was the team expecting more from you?

"Well, I expected better results this season. For sure, everybody expected me to win - but sometimes you can't always win and need to work at it. We started well, winning the first race easily, but things didn't go as well after that."

How difficult has it been to overcome the difficulties with the tyres - has that been your main problem this year?

"It's very tricky to get the tyres working how you want them. It's not that it's harder to find the limit - you can still find that and go over it very easily, but the thing is to get everything working together; to get the set-up and the car exactly how you want them in order to use the tyres as well as possible. We've not been able to do that enough this season."

Do you feel that's why Lewis Hamilton has had an advantage this season?

"If he'd come in last year it might have been a different story. I think the tyres are helping him. This year's newcomers and people who have already been on Bridgestones are doing a bit better than the guys just coming from Michelin. He's new to F1, he's in a good team, and he's definitely a good driver. But he has no past experience on the tyres so it's much easier to come in when you haven't got used to everything. But that's taking nothing away from him - he's doing a great job."

Given your single-mindedness, has it been difficult to work with Michael Schumacher as an advisor?

"I still do my own thing and I don't ask other people what they're doing. It's exactly the same as when I went to McLaren [with Mika Hakkinen]; he never said do this, do that. And I don't ask Michael for too much. It's not going to make my life any easier or any harder if we sat down together and discussed everything. I don't know for certain whether Felipe [Massa, Raikkonen's team-mate] works more closely with Michael. I guess they probably are closer, because they knew each other better last season, but it doesn't make my life any different."

Has it felt strange having Felipe ahead of you so often?

"It's all part of racing. It doesn't bother me because I know what problems I've had. And if we get everything right it's going to be a different story. But, for sure, I'd rather be in front - but that's racing; sometimes you're behind and just have to improve your position. Ferrari hasn't lost any of its strength over the winter, but these aren't the easiest times right now. Hopefully, we'll get back to where we should be."

Do you still believe you can win this year's world championship?

"We haven't given up. We need a few good races right now but I'd be surprised if McLaren can finish the season without any problems. Nothing against them, but if they have one or two bad races the whole thing will look very different - especially if we can win a couple more races. It won't be easy but we'll do our best."

THE HUNT FOR TRUE IDENTITY

It was almost time to go. Kimi seemed happy to sit and talk but Ferrari press guru Luca Colajanni tapped his watch and told me to wrap it up. Still time for one last, cheeky question, I thought, and decided to take the interview into left field territory, asking him about the snowmobile race he had controversially entered just a week before the Australian Grand Prix.

In particular, I wanted to know why he'd chosen to enter himself under the pseudonym of '70s' hell-raiser James Hunt. His answer was honest and open—and possibly the most candid admission of a man stuck in limbo between what Formula 1 wants him to be and who he truly wants to become...

So, one final thing, whose idea was it to go under the pseudonym of James Hunt for your pre-season snowmobile race in Finland? was it your managers' idea?

"No, no, no! It wasn't their idea - they didn't have anything to do with it. They'd be too scared if I ever told them about stuff like that, so I never tell them what I'm doing in my spare time - doing it that way makes my life easier!

"As for calling myself James Hunt, my friends and I had always joked about it. The organisers just wanted a name for the entry list and it made my life a bit easier to keep it a secret. You know how the newspapers always complain about my life? We laughed about it. My life would definitely have been much easier racing with those guys in the 1970s. I was definitely born in the wrong era..."