Stewart: “You cannot change Räikkönen”

Kimi Räikkönen is a unique driver. Besides being very fast, like other drivers such as Vettel, Alonso, or Hamilton, to name a few, the Finn somewhat stands out in today’s over-publicized F1. His blatant disregard for anything related to public relations probably contributes to the popularity of the man Ron Dennis nicknamed Iceman: « With the experience he has, he doesn’t care about public relations, journalists, or interviews. He doesn’t need to do that. If you ask him a silly question, you’ll get a direct answer, » explains Jackie Stewart at the Autosport International show.

The Finn himself acknowledged it at the time when he was racing for McLaren: « My life would have been simpler in the 1970s, » he said then. By bringing the 2007 champion back to F1, Lotus seems to have understood well that a happy Räikkönen is a Räikkönen who only needs to focus on his driving, which likely explains the successful return to the field for the Finnish driver.

According to Jackie Stewart, it’s the right approach because there’s no point in trying to change him: « You can’t change Kimi Räikkönen. I very rarely speak to him during a Grand Prix weekend because if he wants to talk to me, he’ll come and do it. If I go to see him to talk, he’ll think: “What are you talking about? Why are you bothering me?” That would be his reaction, » explains the three-time world champion.

« I really appreciate Kimi. I can’t count him among my friends but Kimi works well in his own way. He is a very special person, the most special of past and present drivers but his comeback was better than that of [Michael] Schumacher. He was present at every race, » adds Stewart, forgetting that, unlike Räikkönen who stayed active in competition by participating in the WRC championship, the seven-time German world champion had stepped back much more before returning in 2010.