Räikkönen had a long line of success in karting from the age of ten.

Montoya had a solid race at Monaco, inheriting second place 14. 5 seconds behind championship leader Fernando Alonso after Räikkönen and Mark Webber went out with engine problems on lap 50.

Although McLaren suffered many Mercedes engine failures in 2002, Räikkönen scored 24 points and four podiums, and held his own against teammate David Coulthard.

Räikkönen came close to winning his first Grand Prix in France, but went off track at the Adelaide hairpin with a handful of laps to go, because of oil from the blown engine of Allan McNish's Toyota on the circuit.

While having engine problems, Räikkönen successfully defended his 2nd position from Rubens Barrichello in Austria.

At the, Räikkönen took pole, and controlled the race from the start until his engine failed on lap 25.

At the, Räikkönen suffered a ten-place grid-penalty following the replacement of his new specification Mercedes Benz engine which failed in Friday practice.

A week later at the, Räikkönen suffered another Mercedes engine failure due to an oil leak ; his 2nd place qualifying place became 12th.

In the penultimate race of the year, at the Suzuka Circuit in Japan, Räikkönen took his 7th victory of the season after starting 17th on the grid ( as rain, and an engine failure for Räikkönen, had mixed up the qualifying grid ).

In Australia, he qualified on pole, but was overtaken on the run to the first corner by Fernando Alonso and Kimi Räikkönen after a safety car period ; he was running 5th in the race, before his engine blew at the last corner on the last lap.

He was the second driver after Räikkönen to win a race despite a grid penalty for changing an engine.

McLaren seemed to be less competitive than in recent years, with Kimi Räikkönen becoming the first retirement of the year, dropping out with an engine problem, and with David Coulthard picking up just 1 point in eighth place.

Räikkönen retired due to engine failure with only 23 laps remaining

However, Kimi Räikkönen suffered an engine failure, using a new-spec Mercedes V10, and was forced to drop 10 grid positions as a result.

However, another engine failure during Saturday free practice meant that Räikkönen would be demoted to 12th on the grid, pushing Button onto the front row, and leaving Räikkönen's teammate Juan Pablo Montoya in 3rd.

Kimi Räikkönen qualified his McLaren-Mercedes fastest, but received a 10-place grid penalty for changing his engine, demoting him to 11th on the grid and giving pole to Juan Pablo Montoya.

At the same time McLaren did not take up their option on Montoya for 2007, while his teammate Kimi Räikkönen remained a free agent, although it was later revealed that Räikkönen had signed with Ferrari for 2007 before Alonso had signed his McLaren deal.

Räikkönen switched to Ferrari in 2007, becoming the highest paid driver in motor sport with an estimated wage of $ 51 million per year.

Later, Ferrari announced that he would be replaced in the 2007 season by Räikkönen.

After the 2006 Italian Grand Prix, Ferrari announced that Räikkönen had signed a three-year contract with Scuderia Ferrari for the 2007 – 2009 seasons.

Following the retirement of Michael Schumacher and his new deal with Ferrari, Räikkönen was estimated to be the highest paid driver in F1, with a base salary reportedly worth US $ 51M annually.

Räikkönen driving for Scuderia Ferrari | Ferrari at the 2007 United States Grand Prix, where he finished fourth.

Kimi Räikkönen driving for Formula One team Scuderia Ferrari | Ferrari ( 2007 )

Kimi Räikkönen replaced him at Ferrari from the start of the 2007 season.

Finland has produced three Formula One World Champions – Keke Rosberg ( Williams, 1982 ), Mika Häkkinen ( McLaren, 1998 and 1999 ) and Kimi Räikkönen ( Ferrari, 2007 ).

After having a wheel-to-wheel dispute with Kimi Räikkönen, Michael Schumacher was forced onto the grass, consequently losing his right deflector, which despite not having great overall impact on the car's aerodynamics, barred him from closing on Räikkönen again and made him miss the podium for the first time since the 2001 Italian Grand Prix and the first time Ferrari missed out on a podium since the 1999 European Grand Prix.

At the the following week Massa and teammate Räikkönen, despite strong performances at Fuji, struggled for pace the entire weekend, a situation which Stefano Domenicali ( Ferrari team principal ) could not explain.

At the last race of the season, the the situation for Ferrari was: Felipe Massa was seven points behind Lewis Hamilton, meaning that Massa had to either finish first or second to win, and Hamilton had to be outside the top 5 – the same position Räikkönen had been in a year earlier, when he won the championship.

Afterwards Räikkönen remained in mathematical contention for the championship with one race to go ; whilst Williams driver Juan Pablo Montoya dropped out of the hunt after being penalized for an incident on Lap 3 with Schumacher's Ferrari teammate Rubens Barrichello.

After the departure of Kimi Räikkönen to Ferrari, it was speculated that he may have been in contention for a 2007 race seat in the team alongside World Champion Fernando Alonso.

Mansell became the first man since Mario Andretti in 1971 to win on his Formula One debut for Ferrari, a feat that was not matched until Kimi Räikkönen won for Ferrari at the 2007 Australian Grand Prix.

McLaren got the better of Ferrari for the second session with Kimi Räikkönen fastest and his teammate David Coulthard was just over half a second behind him, while the Ferrari of Schumacher was over a second slower than Räikkönen's McLaren in third.

Kovalainen was pulling away from the Ferrari of Kimi Räikkönen in the closing stages, which was a real confidence booster for the team.

The Sauber driver instead handed it to Räikkönen on Lap 55 himself after pitting, before eventually finishing in third ( his second podium in four years at Indianapolis ).

Kubica later joked that he should thank Hamilton for electing to crash into Räikkönen instead of him.

Räikkönen scored a third-place podium finish in his first race with McLaren, the 2002 Australian Grand Prix.

Despite the disappointment of the 2004 season, Räikkönen was still seen as one of the rising stars of the sport, along with BAR's Button, Renault's Alonso and 2005 McLaren teammate Montoya.

Significantly, at the opening of the, though saying he was very comfortable at McLaren, Räikkönen raised the possibility that he might leave McLaren when his contract expired in 2006 if reliability issues were not solved.

Räikkönen testing for McLaren at Circuit de Valencia | Valencia in early 2006.

Having started the year clearly behind Renault, McLaren improved in Australia, where Räikkönen finished second after flat spotting a tyre and losing a wing end-plate, which caused him to fall off the pace somewhat around the midpoint of the race.

Räikkönen testing for McLaren at Silverstone Circuit | Silverstone in April 2006.

Räikkönen ended his time at McLaren-Mercedes with a fifth place in the World Drivers ' Championship, with McLaren placing third in the World Constructors ' Championship at the end of a winless year.

Räikkönen said after the move that he was very happy with this change of events but wished McLaren the best of luck in the future.

Along with Räikkönen, the other Finnish Formula One driver currently active is Heikki Kovalainen ( McLaren ).

Räikkönen, in the other McLaren was also struggling in the midfield, but hopeful to pick up his first point of the year, pitted on lap 41.

Montoya did eventually lay to rest the ghost of this event by winning the 2004 race in his final Grand Prix for Williams before moving to McLaren, holding off his future team-mate Kimi Räikkönen to take a hard-fought victory.

Former McLaren Mercedes Formula One driver Kimi Räikkönen and current McLaren Mercedes Driver Jenson Button both own the hard top version of the CLK DTM.

Williams driver Juan Pablo Montoya finished 18 seconds behind in second position while McLaren driver Kimi Räikkönen came home in third place and was the only other driver apart from Montoya, not to be lapped by Schumacher.

The early laps were held in changeable conditions, and the race ended up as a duel between Kimi Räikkönen and Juan Pablo Montoya, who were to be McLaren team-mates for 2005.