To say that modern Formula 1 drivers are a bland bunch is something of an understatement when you compare them to daredevils like James Hunt and Gilles Villeneuve.

But there is one driver who does channel earlier generations’ spirit. In his very rare public pronouncements, Kimi Raikkonen has often acknowledged his admiration for the eccentric playboy James Hunt, even going as far as going under the name of the 1976 World Champion at snowmobile races in his native Finland.

And despite the fact that his chatter is as carbon neutral as they come, the Iceman is one of the most entertaining presences on the grid…

 

Normally F1 drivers will go to great length to explain why they have suffered a mishap on the track. Raikkonen however is usually to the point, like the time he spun during qualifying at the 2012 Japanese Grand Prix. 

 

An interviewer’s nightmare, Raikkonen was characteristically blunt with this unfortunate journalist who was trying to get him to string a sentence together prior to a Grand Prix… 

  

Raikkonen is equally economical when he is asked to say something in Finnish to his fans back home after a race. The interviewer probably expects a two minute lowdown on his performance but in true Kimi style he is over and done with his spiel in all of 5 seconds – and actually ignores the race and instead says Happy Mother’s Day to the women of Finland much to the interviewer’s confusion. 

 

And of course the clincher. The 2007 World Champion makes it abundantly clear to his team that he knows what he is doing – and his post-race comments to his former team-mate David Coulthard pull no punches, also recycling a term he used when interviewed by Martin Brundle at the Brazilian Grand Prix…