Kimi Raikkonen F1 2013

He may not have grabbed as much attention as he was probably due during the 2012 F1 season, but Finland’s Kimi Raikkonen put in a very solid season in his Lotus. A mature and experienced head in amongst the title challengers, Raikkonen only made his return to Formula One last season after a couple of years away running in the World Rally Championships. It was an impressive return as he took third place in the F1 Drivers World Championship and showed the quality of the man. He is a former World Champion in the sport of F1, taking the title back in 2007 in his Ferrari. The Lotus team got a lot of people excited about them very quickly last season and they look as if they could mount a serious challenge to get Raikkonen back on top of the world. It will be a tough challenge to break the dominance of Red Bull’s Sebastian Vettel though, but the value is there in Raikkonen to make a title run.

While the 2012 season for Kimi Raikkonen can be counted as something of a success story, it was a strange season for the Finnish driver. He only took one win out of the twenty races, while the Ferrari, Red Bull and McLaren drivers were sharing chequered flags between them. Still, he had enough prowess in his Lotus to finish third in the overall standings. He didn’t manage to score a single pole position during 2012 and yet he ended up on the podium seven times during the year. Ultimately his challenge for the world title started ebbing away once Red Bull’s Sebastian Vettel hit his stride. But there was enough promise to suggest that there will be more to come from him in 2013. After two years away from the sport, he made a pretty strong impact in 2012.

So will Kimi Raikkonen be able to get more F1 wins under his belt than he did last season? He is a very tempting dark horse in the field, because all the signs from the Lotus development are seen as being positive, and they had other teams paying them compliments last season. Even their opposition were worried about the potential pace that they could deliver. So who better to have at the helm than the cool headed experience of Raikkonen? Where are the tracks at which he may deliver wins in 2013? Well, we can start by assessing where he has been most successful in the past. He has won multiple races at three world circuits, at Malaysia, Spain and Belgium. His sole chequered flag during 2012 came at the 18th race of the season in Abu Dhabi.

There is a lot of potential in the Lotus team that he could get back on the podium. In each of his last two Formula One season he has won just one race in each. At the height of his title winning year in 2007 he landed six victories. So one race would seem to realistically be the benchmark for him. Potential does not equate success of course so there is optimism surrounding Kimi Raikkonen 2013 F1 betting, but it is cautious optimism. That is why he was trading at a general 11/1 prior to the start of the season to win the 2013 F1 Drivers World Championship. If he follows up on what he achieved last season by taking third, there was a general positive nod of around 7/4 on him taking a Top 3 Finish in the overall standings in 2013. There should be a very interesting season ahead for the Finnish driver. He has his backers, can he and the Lotus team deliver?