At the start of the year, Kimi Raikkonen was surprised to learn that he is currently the oldest driver on the Formula 1 grid. The Finn will turn 35 in October. And now, another statistic has caught his attention.
“I’ve been told this weekend’s Canadian GP will be my 200th Grand Prix, which shows how time flies”, says the Scuderia Ferrari driver. “I’ll still be racing flat out and the numbers don’t really change anything, but I’m sure it’s a milestone I will look back on with pride in years to come”.
Hitting the 200 puts Raikkonen fourteenth in the all-time table, which is headed by Rubens Barrichello on 323 Formula 1 race starts. In a career that dates back to 2001, with a two year “sabbatical” in 2010 and ’11, Kimi won the Canadian Grand Prix back in 2005.
“Apart from this being my 200th race, I’m not here just to make up the numbers and getting a good result in Montreal would give us a better reason to celebrate” – continues Kimi – “The Canadian race is one of the most challenging of the season and a track where you have to get everything just right in terms of the car set-up. We have some upgrades for this weekend, but of course the other teams have not been standing still, so the order should not have changed much. Hopefully we can close the gap a bit and get the best result of the season so far for my 200th race, which would be great for the whole team”.