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Name: Kimi Raikkonen
Date of birth: 17th October 1979
Place of birth: Espoo, Finland
Height: 1,75 m
Weight: 65 kg
Marital status: married
Current team: Ferrari
Everyone, of course, wanted to know how Kimi was handling the transformation1 from McLaren2 driver to Ferrari3 driver.
“When I first went to the factory for the test I noticed the atmosphere4 is different, is very good,” said the Finn5. “It’s more like a family feeling, even if people are working as hard as they can, doing their best, it’s very relaxed and the people are easy to work with so I was very happy and that’s really what I expected and what I heard before, so I only have positive things to say. For sure, it’s very different from McLaren. For me, it’s only going in a positive way, so it’s been very pleasant.”
Even the Ferrari colour suits him. “I think red is more warm for sure. It’s very nice. I like the style of the team, with everything. Of course it is a bit special to wear the Ferrari clothing for the first time and the racing suit is new and exciting. It’s always nice.”
Kimi certainly looked in good form, and was more relaxed than has been the case in the past. “I was taking things easy at home. I haven’t had much else to do. It’s the most time that you have for those things and I don’t know if I’ve done more or less, I don’t count it. I do what I like to do and I think I’m in good shape and that’s the only thing that matters.”
Can an “Iceman” drive a fire-breathing6 car? Kimi Raikkonen can. What’s more, the 27-year-old Finn knows what he wants—a Formula One7 world champion. When the Australian Grand Prix8 kicked off9 a new season on March 16, Raikkonen started the tough task of defeating defending champion Fernando Alonso. It was also his first year with F1 team Ferrari. Will he rocket10 from his fifth place to the top podium11 this year?
Comparison with Michael Schumacher is inevitable. But Raikkonen has competition closer to home. His teammate Felipe Massa aims to replace Raikkonen as Ferrari’s top driver. Massa is also lightning quick and believes he deserves a place as a team leader.
“Everybody thought that Kimi was coming to Ferrari to be number one. Now everybody’s realized that Felipe is very quick as well,” said two-time champion Fernando Alonso.
In the face of the competition, Raikkonen keeps his focus. “It doesn’t matter who’s been there before or what has happened before. I just want to do my own thing,” he said.
Raikkonen is known in the F1 world for his cool style. Whether he wins the race, or his car breaks down and robs him of certain victory, he shows little emotion. But it is his approach to driving that has earned him the title of “iceman”. In 2002, a year after his Grand Prix debut, Raikkonen went wheel-to-wheel with Schumacher. He was in the lead and calmly but ruthlessly12 stopped a challenge from the world champion.
Schumacher tried to pass, only to find his Ferrari out on the grass when Raikkonen refused to give way. “It doesn’t matter who it is. I try to keep ahead of them and keep my position,” he said. “Everyone else is just a guy I want to beat.”
While Raikkonen’s talent has not been questioned, his self-discipline13 has. He signed with Ferrari after Schumacher announced his retirement in 2006. However, a string of bad publicity14 has followed him from McLaren, his old team.
In one 2005 episode15, Raikkonen was reportedly seen drunk in the Canary Islands16. In another, he was reportedly kicked out of a London nightclub for drunken behavior.
Though he apologized for his behavior, he communicated that he wasn’t planning on changing his lifestyle anytime soon.
“It’s my private life so what I do in the car is completely different because I am for sure giving everything that I can to the team,” Raikkonen said after the London accident. “It’s part of life... It’s not the first time for me and you just get used to it after a while.”
The Finn’s words and behavior come in sharp contrast to those of Schumacher, who was known as tireless worker and competitor. Schumacher, now 38, won seven F1 world championships and 91 Grand Prix races.
While Raikkonen signed with Ferrari to replace Schumacher, he made it clear that he was going to be himself.
“I’m not Michael Schumacher and the team doesn’t expect me to be,” he told Reuters at the time of the signing. “I’m not going to change my way; it works well enough.”
But Raikkonen still has a lot of road in front of him. Since joining the F1 circuit in 2001, Raikkonen has won only 10 Grand Prix races.
Indeed, Schumacher was a long way away. Now Raikkonen has to catch him.
当然，每个人都想知道吉米·莱科宁是如何从迈凯轮车手转变为法拉利车手的。
“首次去训练场参加测试时，我就注意到那里的气氛有些不同, 给人的感觉很不错,”这个芬兰人说，“耳闻目睹一番之后，我只有满意的话想说，感觉到那里更有家的味道, 即使大伙儿都在全力以赴地拼命工作，气氛还是很轻松，相处也十分融洽，这让我感到很高兴。的确，它与迈凯轮非常不同。对我而言，一切都很顺利，因此感觉非常愉快。”
甚至连法拉利的颜色也十分适合他。“我觉得红色真的令人感觉很温馨，真是棒极了！我喜欢这个队的队风，都爱屋及乌了。当然，第一次穿法拉利队服感觉是有一点特别，真是既新鲜又兴奋。总之，一切都很好。”
显然，吉米看上去状态很不错，比过去在这种情形下显得更放松。“我过去在国内做事情比较随意，也没有太多别的事情要做。大多数时候，在别人做那些事情时，我不知道自己是否多少也做了点儿，不过这也无所谓。我只做自己喜欢做的事情，我的状态很好，这一点才至关重要。”
“冰人”能驾驶喷火的车吗? 当然，莱科宁可以。而且，这位27岁的芬兰人也知道自己渴望什么——那就是一级方程式赛车的世界冠军。当3月16日国际汽车大奖赛在澳大利亚站揭开新一个赛季之时，莱科宁与卫冕世界冠军费尔南多·阿隆索之间的艰苦竞争也随即开始。同时，这也是冰人与法拉利车队合作的第一个赛季。他今年能否如愿由上赛季的排名第五一跃登上冠军宝座呢?
他加盟法拉利后，车迷们不可避免地将他与迈克尔·舒马赫做比较。但是莱科宁已经“后院失火”了——他的队友菲利普·马萨立志取代莱科宁成为法拉利的头号车手。马萨也快如闪电，而且确信自己理当在队中扮演领袖角色。
“每个人都认为吉米去法拉利就会成为法拉利的一号车手。现在每个人也认识到菲利普速度也是非常快的。”两届世界冠军阿隆索说。
面对竞争，莱科宁没有分散自己的注意力。“不管以前谁是老大，或者发生过什么，这些都不重要。我只是想做我自己的事。”他说。
莱科宁在 F1赛车圈内以自己冷酷的风格著称。不管是赢得比赛, 还是赛车抛锚而与胜利失之交臂，他都淡然视之。但正是他驾车的风格为他赢得了“冰人”的美誉。2002年，即他首次亮相国际汽车大奖赛后的第二年，莱科宁与舒马赫你追我赶，然而他占了先机，平静却又无情地挫败了舒马赫这位世界冠军的挑战。
舒马赫曾试图超越他，不料莱科宁却让他无机可乘，并且还把他的法拉利赛车挤出赛道。“对手是谁并不重要，我只想一直领先，然后守住冠军。”他说，“每个车手都是我要击败的对手，如此而已。”
莱科宁的才能无人质疑，但是他的自律能力受到人们的怀疑。舒马赫2006年宣布退役后，他就签约法拉利了。然而，一连串的负面报道就从他以前的迈凯轮车队一路追随到法拉利。
2005年的一则花边新闻曾报道莱科宁在加那利群岛喝得酩酊大醉。另一则报道说他在一家伦敦夜总会因酗酒闹事而被赶出门外。
虽然他为此道歉了，但是他声称并不打算因此而迅速改变生活方式。
“我的私人生活和我的工作完全是两码事，我会竭尽所能帮助车队取得好成绩，”伦敦意外事件之后，莱科宁这样说道，“这只是生活的一部分……。他们那么报道我也不是第一次，也许大家以后就会习惯了。”
这个芬兰人言行与舒马赫——在人们眼中永远都是一个不知疲倦的车手和竞争者，形成了强烈的对比。舒马赫现年38岁, 7次夺得世界冠军，并且在国际汽车大奖赛中获奖91次。
当莱科宁签约法拉利取代舒马赫的时候，他明确表态他还是要做自己。
“我不是迈克尔·舒马赫，而且队里也不期望如此，” 他在签约时如此告诉路透社的记者，“我不会改变我的风格，因为它很管用。”
但是莱科宁还有很多要做。自从2001年参加F1比赛以来, 莱科宁只在国际汽车大奖赛中获奖10次。
的确，要取得舒马赫那样的成绩，莱科宁还有很长的路要走。现在莱科宁必须迎头赶上。
1. transformation[?謣tr?覸nsf?藜?謖mei?蘩?藜n] n. 变化，转变
2. McLaren 迈凯轮F1车队，由Brucer McLaren于1963年成立。
3. Ferrari 法拉利F1车队，成立于 1929年。
4. atmosphere [?謖?覸tm?藜sfi?藜] n. 气氛
5. Finn 芬兰人
6. fire-breathing adj. 喷火的
7. Formula One 一级方程式赛车比赛
8. Grand Prix 国际汽车大奖赛
9. kick off 开始
10. rocket [?謖r?蘅kit] v. 急速上升
11. podium [?謖p?藜udi?藜m] n. 表演台，讲台，领奖台
12. ruthlessly [?謖ru?蘼?夼lisli] adv. 无情地
13. self-discipline 律己，自我约束
14. publicity [p?蘧b?謖lisiti] n. 名声
15. episode [?謖epis?藜ud] n. 插曲；一个事件
16. the Canary Islands加那利群岛（非洲西北海岸外的大西洋中）