Kimi R\u00e4ikk\u00f6nen 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: \u00ab 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, \u00bb explains Jackie Stewart at the Autosport International show.<\/p>\n
The Finn himself acknowledged it at the time when he was racing for McLaren: \u00ab My life would have been simpler in the 1970s, \u00bb he said then. By bringing the 2007 champion back to F1, Lotus seems to have understood well that a happy R\u00e4ikk\u00f6nen is a R\u00e4ikk\u00f6nen who only needs to focus on his driving, which likely explains the successful return to the field for the Finnish driver.<\/p>\n
According to Jackie Stewart, it’s the right approach because there’s no point in trying to change him: \u00ab You can’t change Kimi R\u00e4ikk\u00f6nen. 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, \u00bb explains the three-time world champion.<\/p>\n
\u00ab 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, \u00bb adds Stewart, forgetting that, unlike R\u00e4ikk\u00f6nen 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.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Present at the Autosport International show, Jackie Stewart reflected on Kimi R\u00e4ikk\u00f6nen’s 2012 season and the personality of the Finnish driver.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":28,"featured_media":41113,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1,1749],"tags":[654,777],"class_list":["post-17958","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-f1","category-news","tag-stewart","tag-raikkonen"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n