Räikkönen in numbers
1,873 official points
1Drivers’ titles
2007
18th of 789 all time
2Constructors’ titles
2007, 2008
24th of 789 all time
6% of races
5.2% of races
29.5% of races
0Drivers’ titles
none
0Constructors’ titles
none
0Drivers’ titles
none
0Constructors’ titles
none
10.3% of races with McLaren
12.6% of races with McLaren
41.4% of races with McLaren
1Drivers’ titles
2007
of 1 in the career
2Constructors’ titles
2007, 2008
of 2 in the career
6.6% of races with Ferrari
4.6% of races with Ferrari
34.4% of races with Ferrari
0Drivers’ titles
none
0Constructors’ titles
none
5.4% of races with Lotus F1
40.5% of races with Lotus F1
0Drivers’ titles
none
0Constructors’ titles
none
Kimi Räikkönen, "The Iceman", is one of the most beloved characters Formula 1 has produced. Impassive, allergic to the fanfare and disarmingly honest over the radio, that coolness hid a blisteringly quick driver of natural talent who impressed from his arrival at Sauber in 2001, with barely 22 car races behind him.
His 2005 season with McLaren is legendary: seven wins and stunning recoveries, but disastrous reliability denied him a title he deserved. He made amends in 2007, his first year at Ferrari, storming back in the final two races to become world champion by a single point over the McLarens of Hamilton and Alonso.
After a spell in rallying, he returned to F1 in 2012 and stretched his career to 2021, becoming the driver with the most Grand Prix starts in history. His laconic lines ("Leave me alone, I know what I'm doing") and his indifference to fame made him, paradoxically, even more popular.
What if Räikkönen had another car?
We took his real attributes and put him in the best car of each era: in a real driver's seat, against the team-mate that car actually had. 20 full seasons in each.
| Car | Team-mate | Finish | Wins | Titles |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| McLaren1988 | Alain Prost-37 pts | P1.9 | 5.3 | 15% |
| Williams1992 | Riccardo Patrese+75 pts | P1.1 | 9.8 | 95% |
| Ferrari2002 | Rubens Barrichello+69 pts | P1.1 | 12.1 | 95% |
| Red Bull2013 | Mark Webber+116 pts | P1 | 15.4 | 100% |
| Mercedes2016 | Lewis Hamilton-23 pts | P1.6 | 8.9 | 40% |
| Red Bull2023 | Sergio Perez+91 pts | P1 | 17.3 | 100% |
| Cadillac2026 · 11th on the grid | Valtteri Bottas+41 pts | P9 | 0 | 0% |
The only one who beats him is Alain Prost in the 1988 McLaren: 37 points clear over a full season.
Ver en españolRating by season
- First season
- 85 2001
- Peak
- 91 2007
- 2021
- 76 Alfa Romeo
19 seasons in the database, from 2001 to 2021. Our own rating, from 50 to 99.
Teams
Tags
Best year
2005
What would Kimi Räikkönen have achieved with a different car or in a different era?
Hypotheses featuring Kimi Räikkönen
Related drivers
His team-mates
13 team-mates across 19 seasons. When both finished the race, Räikkönen was ahead in 119 of 224; on the grid he started ahead in 164 of 345.
| Year | Team-mate | In the race | On the grid |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2001 | Nick HeidfeldSauber · 17 races | 3-4 | 7-10 |
| 2002 | David CoulthardMcLaren · 17 races | 2-1 | 10-7 |
| 2003 | David CoulthardMcLaren · 16 races | 8-1 | 10-6 |
| 2004 | David CoulthardMcLaren · 18 races | 7-2 | 12-6 |
| 2005 | Juan Pablo MontoyaMcLaren · 17 races | 3-5 | 9-8 |
| 2005 | Pedro de la RosaMcLaren · 1 race | 1-0 | 0-1 |
| 2005 | Alexander WurzMcLaren · 1 race | · | 1-0 |
| 2006 | Juan Pablo MontoyaMcLaren · 10 races | 2-1 | 7-3 |
| 2006 | Pedro de la RosaMcLaren · 8 races | 3-0 | 8-0 |
| 2007 | Felipe MassaFerrari · 17 races | 9-4 | 8-9 |
| 2008 | Felipe MassaFerrari · 18 races | 3-8 | 6-12 |
| 2009 | Felipe MassaFerrari · 10 races | 2-3 | 5-4 |
| 2009 | Giancarlo FisichellaFerrari · 5 races | 5-0 | 5-0 |
| 2009 | Luca BadoerFerrari · 2 races | 2-0 | 2-0 |
| 2012 | Romain GrosjeanLotus F1 · 19 races | 10-2 | 9-10 |
| 2012 | Jérôme d'AmbrosioLotus F1 · 1 race | 1-0 | 1-0 |
| 2013 | Romain GrosjeanLotus F1 · 17 races | 7-4 | 10-7 |
| 2014 | Fernando AlonsoFerrari · 19 races | 1-15 | 3-16 |
| 2015 | Sebastian VettelFerrari · 19 races | 3-10 | 4-15 |
| 2016 | Sebastian VettelFerrari · 21 races | 3-10 | 12-9 |
| 2017 | Sebastian VettelFerrari · 20 races | 2-13 | 4-15 |
| 2018 | Sebastian VettelFerrari · 21 races | 8-8 | 6-15 |
| 2019 | Antonio GiovinazziAlfa Romeo · 21 races | 15-2 | 11-8 |
| 2020 | Antonio GiovinazziAlfa Romeo · 17 races | 9-4 | 8-9 |
| 2021 | Antonio GiovinazziAlfa Romeo · 20 races | 10-8 | 6-11 |
The first number is always Räikkönen's. A team-mate is whoever started the same race for the same team. "In the race" only counts races both finished, because a retirement says nothing about who was quicker. "On the grid" is the starting position, with penalties already applied.
Compare Räikkönen with another driver
Titles, wins, poles and podiums side by side, against any of the 789 drivers in history.
Keep reading
Where Kimi Räikkönen comes up in what we have measured, with our own numbers.
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- 8 min readThe five seasons our simulator cannot explainWe re-ran 30 real seasons, 100 times each. The engine picks the right champion in 25 of them. These are the five it gets wrong, and three turned on…
- 6 min readIn 1982, eleven different drivers won. In 2023, threeWe counted the winners of every season since 1950. Variety has fallen decade after decade, and the years with fewest different winners are exactly…