To celebrate Kimi Raikkonen's wedding to long-time girlfriend Minttu Virtanen at the weekend, we thought we'd tease him a little and look back to when he was just on the cusp of his Formula One career.

Yes, that really is a 21-year-old Raikkonen taking part in winter testing with Sauber in December 2000. He impressed team boss Peter Sauber enough to clinch a race seat with the squad the following year.

Many experts thought that Sauber was showing bad judgement signing up such a young and inexperienced driver to his team, but by the end of the season Raikkonen has picked up nine championship points in his rookie season - and no one was criticising Sauber's decision after that.

In fact Raikkonen's first season had been so eye-catching that Sauber's problem was warding off the team managers lining up to sign up the Finn's services for 2002. In the end it was Ron Dennis who won and duly signed Raikkonen for McLaren. He stayed there for five years before his switch to Ferrari in 2007 where a world title beckoned.

Andrew Lewin

Andrew first became a fan of Formula 1 during the time when Michael Schumacher and Damon Hill were stepping into the limelight after the era of Alain Prost, Nigel Mansell and Aryton Senna. He's been addicted ever since, and has been writing about the sport now for nearly a quarter of a century for a number of online news sites. He's also written professionally about GP2 (now Formula 2), GP3, IndyCar, World Rally Championship, MotoGP and NASCAR. In his other professional life, Andrew is a freelance writer, social media consultant, web developer/programmer, and digital specialist in the fields of accessibility, usability, IA, online communities and public sector procurement. He worked for many years in magazine production at Bauer Media, and for over a decade he was part of the digital media team at the UK government's communications department. Born and raised in Essex, Andrew currently lives and works in south-west London.

Recent Posts

Las Vegas GP: Hamilton leads Mercedes 1-2 in trouble-free FP1

Lewis Hamilton and George Russell led the field in a chilly but trouble-free first practice…

33 mins ago

2024 Las Vegas Grand Prix Free Practice 1 - Results

Full results from Free Practice 1 for the Las Vegas Grand Prix in the United…

37 mins ago

Aston Martin says performance shortfall led to Fallows exit

Aston Martin performance director Tom McCullough has shed some light on why the team’s former…

10 hours ago

FIA clamps down on plank loophole after Red Bull complaint

The FIA has issued a pivotal Technical Directive to F1 teams ahead of this weekend’s…

11 hours ago

F1 drivers blindsided by race director Wittich’s sudden exit

The abrupt removal last week of FIA race director Niels Wittich with just three races…

12 hours ago

McLaren relaxes ‘papaya rules’: Norris and Piastri free to race

Oscar Piastri has confirmed that McLaren’s team orders—dubbed the "Papaya Rules"—have been largely relaxed, giving…

14 hours ago