Paul Jeffrey
Premium
Kimi Räikkönen had a more convincing weekend in Australia that for many years, does this mean a revival for one of the most popular Grand Prix drivers?
If we are brutally honest with ourselves, Kimi Räikkönen hasn't been the same driver since his 2007 title winning season, having seemingly lost much of that drive and hair on the back of the neck raising skill that the 'Ice Man' often showed during his early McLaren years. Having been comprehensively spanked by "second driver" Felipe Massa at Ferrari before leaving Grand Prix racing for an ill advised career in rally, Räikkönen returned to the top level with Lotus and quickly showed enough form to secure an unlikely return to the red team for the 2014 season.
Since re-joining Ferrari flashes of the old Kimi have resurfaced, but frankly the Finn seems to have adopted the role of solid support driver rather than bona fide front runner, leaving many to wonder that at the age of 38 this could well be the final hurrah for one of the most popular personalities in modern Formula One.
Enter the 2018 season opener and pretty much everyone expected the new year to be much of the same for Ferrari, namely Vettel out front fighting for wins and Räikkönen in the lower top five positions hopefully doing enough to score strong constructors points and occasionally thwart the Mercedes duo during the odd race throughout the year.
Seemingly noone thought to tell Räikkönen as the plane landed in Australia, the unflappable Finn looking like the man he once was throughout the whole weekend, seemingly flat chat in every session and showing bags of that old hunger, skill, daring and most of all... speed.
Räikkönen turned many heads in Melbourne despite Vettel being the one to bring home the silverware for Ferrari, outpacing his German four time title winning team mate all weekend, looking like the stronger of the two Ferrari drivers until the fortunate timing of a VSC lead to a turnaround of fortunes for the number 5, demoting Räikkönen to the bottom step of the podium but more importantly proving to a lot of people that there is life in the old dog yet...
With such an exceptional performance from the 'Ice Man' in Melbourne, do you think this marks the revival of one of the most talented drivers in Formula One? For the sake of the fans, I sure hope so...
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Do you think Räikkönen is back to his best? Can the Finn continue his form into the season? Does the 'Ice Man' offer a potential championship challenger alongside Vettel? Let us know in the comments section below!
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