2007 Formula One World Champion Kimi Raikkonen cut his teeth in national and international kart racing from the age of ten, before taking up single seaters in 1999. He competed in four races for Haywood Racing, finishing third in his first outing before retiring from the next three due to technical problems. Raikkonen also competed in the Formula Ford Euro Cup where he finished fifth, but his final entrance into the Formula Ford Festival saw him forced out of contention. Signing for Manor Motor Sport, he won four races out of four starts to secure the Formula Renault Winter series.

Staying with Manor, 2000 saw the Finn competing in the British Renault Championship, taking the title with relative ease after securing seven wins out of the ten races contested. He stood on the podium for every race, and took seven pole positions and six fastest laps. During the same year, he also competed in the Formula Renault series where he took two wins, two poles and two fastest laps. Out of the 23 races contested, Raikkonen had a success rate of more that 50 percent, winning a grand total of 13, making F1 team boss Peter Sauber sit up and take notice.

Raikkonen duly made his Formula One debut for the Swiss-based Formula One team in 2001, after competing in just 23 car races, none of which involved F3 or F3000. Amid some controversy, the FIA granted him the necessary Super Licence due to promising performances displayed in testing in F1 2000.

His debut season produced some superb performances and he helped the team to their highest ever finish, fourth place overall in the constructors' battle. Despite some negativity surrounding his entrance into the sport, his performance didn't go unnoticed and he was chosen by McLaren Mercedes to take the place of retiring double world champion Mika Hakkinen.

Raikkonen put in some blistering performances throughout 2002, out-qualifying his more experienced team-mate David Coulthard on several occasions. He also came extremely close to winning his first Grand Prix in France, but ran wide at the Adelaide hairpin handing victory to Michael Schumacher.

Raikkonen confirmed his potential in 2003. The Finn won his first Grand Prix in Malaysia and fought for the title until the very last race against Schumacher. 2004 promised a great deal for the Finn, but sadly it was a season with few high points.

The team started the 2004 season with the new MP4-19 chassis and before long it was accepted that the car simply was not competitive. As Raikkonen retired from race after race with mechanical failures early in the season, his dip in motivation was clear to see and also fairly understandable. This would be something we would see later in his career however in less understandable circumstances.

Armed with a much more competitive 'b' specification chassis mid-season Raikkonen raised his game and became a regular point's scorer again. With little in the way of competition from team-mate Coulthard throughout the season coupled with appalling reliability early in the year, Raikkonen managed to finish just seventh in the overall standings with one victory coming his way at Spa Francorchamps.

2005 was a complete turnaround for Raikkonen and McLaren Mercedes. Raikkonen may have missed out on the title to Fernando Alonso, but he had a stunning season let down only by some reliability issues from Mercedes. Raikkonen showed the way to new team-mate Juan Pablo Montoya, scored seven race wins and not once did he make a significant error on track.

Raikkonen remained with McLaren in 2006 hoping that the momentum would continue and he could challenge for the title. It was to be another tough season however with Raikkonen unable to take a race win. He did much better than Montoya, who departed the team mid-season and was as fast as ever, equipment permitting.

For 2007 it was all change for Raikkonen as he took over from the retiring Michael Schumacher at Ferrari. Schumacher was always going to be a hard act to follow but as Raikkonen proved in 2002, he is not afraid of a stern challenge.

Raikkonen's season got off to the best possible start with Ferrari, taking victory in the first Grand Prix in Australia, the first time a new driver won for the team at his first race. Further wins followed in France, Germany, Belgium and China ahead of the season finale in Brazil.

The odds were stacked against Raikkonen with Lewis Hamilton just needing a fifth position to take the championship, but errors from the McLaren driver and a superb victory from Raikkonen brought him the championship by one point.

With the championship under his belt, Raikkonen was expected to come out fighting in 2008 but it would prove to be a disappointing season.

Two wins from the first four races was an impressive start for the defending champion, but his Spanish Grand Prix win in April would be his last victory of the season. The Finn was unlucky not to win the French Grand Prix at Magny Cours and was taken out of contention by eventual champion Lewis Hamilton in Montreal following the infamous pit lane exit crash.

However, qualifying proved to be a major issue as Raikkonen notched up just two pole positions over the season and dropped behind team-mate Felipe Massa as the season progressed.

After crashing out of the Belgian Grand Prix, Raikkonen effectively took over the number two role at Ferrari and backed Massa in the final five rounds of the season. The question of motivation was a frequent topic of debate but Raikkonen remains under contract at Ferrari until the end of the 2010 season and starts 2009 keen to prove he is the top driver at the Italian-based squad.