Driver profile: Kimi Raikkonen

When Kimi Raikkonen's return to Formula 1 after two years in rallying was announced, it was difficult to know how it would go. But Raikkonen in a quick car was a feature from the start of last season.

Raikkonen's stats and facts

  • Team: Lotus
  • Team-mate: Romain Grosjean
  • Previous teams: Sauber, McLaren, Ferrari
  • Nationality: Finnish
  • Born: 17/10/1979, Espoo
  • Grand prix debut: Australia 2001
  • World titles: 1 (2007)

Lotus is the perfect team for a man who wants to do nothing in F1 apart from drive a car - all the peripheral stuff, such as sponsor commitments, he can do without. And he doesn't care what anyone thinks about it.

The evidence of 2012 was that he is missing the last bit of the ultimate pace he had in his McLaren days in the early 2000s. But he made up for that with a consistency matched only by Fernando Alonso.

With a year under his belt at a team that now have a better understanding of his requirements - particularly a sensitivity to steering feel caused by his technique - he should be even stronger in 2013.