The dream of every true “Alfista”: a flying start at the traffic light.
On the day of Hamilton, the super-celebrated champion who beats the record of victories, who eats everyone’s breakfast is Kimi Raikkonen from Espoo.
In the 4.0 Formula 1, where giants such as Hamilton and bionic talents such as Verstappen and Leclerc race, there is a 41-year-old dinosaur from the North who has decided to pull an absolute pearl out of his hat. An unrivaled lap one. Like a certain Ayrton Senna in Donington in 1993. Immortal Kimi, not even we who have always supported you have expected it.
Raikkonen makes up 10 positions on incredible opening lap in Portimao.
What an absolutely crazy start we have had to the first-ever Portuguese Grand Prix in 24 years. Definitely worth the wait.
The Alfa Romeo man had shown no indication of getting into the points during his qualifying stint. However, perhaps the most optimistic of Raikkonen fans would have had butterflies in their stomach when he finished the first free practice session in P8.
On race day, the ‘Iceman’ got his fans all nostalgic. Raikkonen started the race in P16, but boy did he get off to an absolute flyer.
When conditions are tricky, experience counts, as F1’s record starts holder Kimi Raikkonen proved in Sunday’s at Portimao, with the Iceman making up an incredible 10 positions in a dizzying opening lap.
Kimi started the race on the soft compound tires in hopes of an electric start. And he delivered what was asked for. He put his Alfa Romeo C39 in an incredible P6 at the end of a couple of laps.
However, his insane start wasn’t because he pulled off any ridiculously brave or audacious moves. Rather, the Finn kept things simple and just put his car wherever space opened up on the track and used his soft tires to breeze past some others.
Not to take away anything from him, though. He got off to a good start and had to make the moves stick.
Raikkonen lined up 16th on the grid in his Alfa Romeo, but with conditions extremely difficult – a low grip track surface exacerbated by a smattering of light rain – the Finnish driver made the most of his soft tyres as those around him struggled to fire up their mediums in the cool temperatures.
Finding grip where others couldn't, the 41-year-old turned back the years as he sailed past the likes of George Russell, Sebastian Vettel, Lance Stroll and Esteban Ocon as he closed up to the race leaders.
Formula One F1 - Portuguese Grand Prix - Algarve International Circuit, Portimao, Portugal - Alfa Romeo's Kimi Raikkonen during practice. Jose Sena Goulao/Pool via REUTERS.
Formula One F1 – Portuguese Grand Prix – Algarve International Circuit, Portimao, Portugal – Alfa Romeo’s Kimi Raikkonen in action during the race. Pool via REUTERS/Rudy Carezzevoli.
A Sunday drive with Kimi.
Driving clean round the outside of cars, cutting his way through slow Sunday afternoon traffic. Iceman never loses his cool.
Approaching every corner differently than the others while playing clean, Kimi overtook 11 drivers in first laps. His driving style and ruthlessness stem from his experience and past days without as much technology in the cockpit. He got on the throttle earlier than anybody else and stayed on it longer, constantly trusting his car with a super instinctive drive right from the get go. 1993 Ayrton's opening lap from 5 to 1, 2020 Raikkonen's lap from 16 to 6. Possibly the best F1 start ever, especially considering how bad the car was. Kimi is old enough to be a father to at least half of the current F1 drivers out there. He switched to the wet racing line quick and capitalized even quicker, just making that look so easy. What a drive, masterclass! He used short shifting to better effect than any other driver. His move on the straight was almost like Hakkinen vs Schumacher at Spa. One of the finest 2 minutes of racing ever.
Also he's a very humble guy. We love you Kimi. When we saw he was P6 we thought he cut a corner or something, but this was just awesome. It seemed like he warmed up these tires just 100 % perfect before the start. He has the best awareness of anyone in passing people within a hair of touching them. An epic first lap. Literally half the field at lights out. He may not drive a front row car, but he's still a front row driver.
He was overtaking a car almost every corner. The way he claimed the space while staying on his line was absolutely brilliant. He took a wider line in the last corner so that he had a faster exit onto the start-finish straight. Beautifully done. Like when you listen to the weather forecast and set your car up for rain and the others not. The "rocket start" seemed to us like it was a case of unintentional sarcasm, but that first lap was more fire than a rocket can provide..., Kimi was on fire. Lightning McQueen'd be proud. The new "Lap of the Gods'. He still has all the speed to keep his hobby going. The perks of growing up with rally and ice roads. For a moment you though he was playing F1 video game easy mode. You need to see this more than once to believe what you saw.
“During the first lap I just tried to stay out of trouble, to stay calm and hold my position. Suddenly, however, I found Kimi behind me. I was literally shocked, I kept asking myself 'do I really have to defend myself from ... come on, what's going on?!'". At that stage I thought he had started flying." Max Verstappen
“I drive the car.” Kimi Raikkonen.
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