Finnish Driver of The Year | New Book on Kimi

From IltaSanomat

Kimi Räikkönen was the highlight of the AKK-Motorsports annual medal ceremony in Lahti, Finland, when he came to pick up his "Motorsport driver of the year" award.

Immediatly after the ceremony, Räikkönen went to check out Lahti’s nightlife with his buddies, including Toni Vilander, another Finnish racing driver. Present in the gala were also Mika Salo and ski jumper and top fuel driver Janne Ahonen. 

Two security guards refrained fans from getting close to Räikkönen. Kimi’s wife, Jenni Dahlman-Räikkönen wasn’t present at the gala. Räikkönen told shortly his feelings after he received his trophy.

"I haven’t been busy in last few weeks. In two weeks I’ve got a few test days. A bit of christmas celebration with the team, nothing special’, said Räikkönen.

He came to the gala right from the HIFK’s (Finnish Ice Hockey team) friendly match."

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Video:
Features the presentation of Kimi receiving his trophy and applause, followed by an interview

Kimi is looking rather nice in black! I’m happy to see our hero being given recognition in his home country. He’s got a few more suits ready for more trophies to collect, and it’s the F1 world championship trophy we can’t wait to see him grasp in glory, during the FIA Gala in December at Monaco. The FIA Gala will take place on December the 7th and will be aired on Eurosport on 9th December at 23:30 CET.

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Räikkönen’s Epic Season in a Book
From TurunSanomat

Turun Sanomat’s F1 reporter Heikki Kulta collects Ferrari driver Kimi Räikkönen’s storylike F1 season on book form. The book will review the season behind the scenes, the drama, action and the excitement with photos, graphics and full standings.

Kulta has previously made a similar book about Mika Häkkinen’s 2001 season, called ‘Grand Prix of Agony’.

"It was pretty depressive book, as Häkkinen’s season was a disaster and turned out to be his last too," says Kulta.

"Räikkönen’s book will be completely different thanks to this season – an exciting thriller with storylike ending."

Based on Räikkönen’s battle for WDC, the book will be large, as it includes every Grand Prix of the season. "Every single one of them could be worth a book," Kulta says.

Kulta, who has been following F1 for 30 years, is only active Finnish newspaper reporter, who is going to every race of the season.

"I write with blue-white eyes, but my collegues do the same. I’m proud to be only one who believed in the miracle until the end," smiles Kulta.

The 2007 season will be remembered from it’s exciting moments, which lasted until the last race. Räikkönen closed the gap to Lewis Hamilton, which seemed to be almost impossible and rose from challenger to champion in the final race of the season.

"As far as I remember, this is the most coloured season of them all. Now we had 2 even teams fighting for the championship, and both teams had 2 even drivers. Additionally, we had all kinds of espionage scandals to mix it up," Kulta reviews.

Previously Kulta has said that the most remarkable moment in his press career was when TPS (Turku’s football club) won against Inter Milan in Uefa Cup in 1987, but now F1 Season 2007 will beat it.

"Kimi’s championship was even more storylike than Mika Aaltonen’s goal," Kulta adds.

It’s about darn time there is a book on him! Kimi Raikkonen is the world champion people, not Lewis Hamilton who has 30 odd biographies for just being a successful rookie…who also blew a 17 point lead in two races. Hehe!

Heikki Kulta has been one of the very few good journalists that I’ve discovered this year, and I’m thrilled that he’s writing probably the first ever book on Kimi. I do hope it will be available in English, as getting the Finnish translated from someone would be murder! I’ll probably buy it anyway…