Memorable Finnish F1 moments – Do you remember them all?

Keke Rosberg received feedback from Patrick Head at the 1983 Brazilian GP. PDO

– Keke, get the fuck back in the car!

Williams Technical Director by Patrick Head the “friendly” prompt was directed Keke for Rosberg. The Finn, who was driving his first race as the reigning world champion, had jumped out of his Williams a moment earlier in the middle of the race.

Rosberg’s reaction was understandable. Who would want to sit in the middle of the flames?

After the mechanics quickly brought the fire under control, Rosberg obeyed Head’s order and jumped back into the car. It was worth it. He drove second to the checkered flag.

The performance was not rewarded. After the race, Rosberg was disqualified. He was considered to have received illegal assistance from the pit when he set off.

Rosberg’s dramatic pit stop is just one chapter in the colorful story of Finnish F1 drivers.

Here are just some of them.

Flaming Iceman

Let’s continue with the flame line. No less than two Finns are seen in the lead role of this story.

Intermediate refueling was an essential part of F1 races for years. They were abandoned after the 2009 season for safety reasons.

They gave a demonstration of the dangers of playing with gasoline at the Brazilian GP Kimi Raikkonen and Heikki Kovalainen.

The Finnish drivers of Ferrari and McLaren entered the pits on the same lap. In McLaren’s camp, Kovalainen’s pit stop was dangerously delayed. The Finn was sent to drive with the fuel line still attached to the car.

Räikkönen, who was driving around the pit road after, first got the gasoline that poured from the hose on his face before the flames flared up. In the end, a really dangerous situation was managed with relatively little. Räikköse’s eyebrows furrowed as he opened his visor.

Last Round Dramas

Finns have won 57 F1 races.

The number could be two higher if the Spanish GP 2001 and the European GP 2005 had been a lap shorter.

Mika Häkkinen and Kimi Räikkönen’s suspensions still haunt the soul of every Finnish formula fan.

You can rub more salt in the wounds with this information: The bad luck in the last round has deprived other Finns of top positions as well.

Keke Rosberg ran out of water on the last lap of the 1986 German GP. It took second place.

Valtteri Bottas lost the triple in 2015 in Russia, when Räikkönen crashed into his compatriot’s tire barrier.

The 2008 Belgian GP was a Via Dolorosa for the Finns. First, Räikkönen slipped from the winning battle into the wall in the penultimate lap. I drove the crown of misery to the points Heikki Kovalainen freezing of the car on the side of the track in the last lap.

If Räikkösen has missed a race at the end of the race, it has also ended twice in a very early event.

2001 In the Malaysian GP, ​​the drive shaft of the young Finn’s Sauber broke immediately during the initial acceleration. 2003 in Spain, Räikkönen got ahead by a good twenty meters, until the McLaren bounced into the grid with a stalled Jaguar to Antonio Pizzonia.

This is not worth remembering when thinking about where Räikkönen’s championship dream of the 2003 season vanished.

Only the steering wheel is missing

Without a steering wheel, an F1 car is difficult to steer.

Räikkönen got to experience that in Imola 2001. The steering wheel came off in the middle of the race. Unable to steer, the Sauber was thrown into the wall, ending the Finnish journey.

Young Häkkinen had slightly better luck. The future world champion experienced moments of horror right away in the first GP of his career in Phoenix 1991. Fortunately for Häkkinen, the wheelless car did not hit the wall. The Finn fixed the steering wheel back in place and continued the race for a while before the engine failure so familiar to Finnish drivers.

Kimi marched to the spot

Palkintopalli has become familiar to Finnish drivers. One GP start Leo from Kinnus except for every Finnish F1 driver has driven in the top three at least once.

Räikkönen, who has attended the award ceremony 103 times in his career, found himself in a special situation after the 2017 US GP.

Max Verstappen had overtaken Räikkönen in the last lap, rising to third. However, the jury found the young Dutchman’s driving line too greedy.

Immediately after the race, the jury dropped the Dutchman behind Räikkönen. A strange mix-up ensued, when Räikkönen, who was keen to warm up, and Verstappen, who was surprised by his punishment, met.

Verstappen went downhill, and Räikkönen, who was coldly amused by the situation, headed to the podium to spray champagne.

Kimi gave up his victory trophy

In his long career, Räikkönen also experienced the dark side of podium confusion.

The Finn celebrated his victory in the eventful 2003 Brazilian GP for a couple of days, until the jury figured out Giancarlo Fisichella was actually number one.

Räikkönen handed over the race winning pole to the Italian during the following race weekend.

There were no winners in the strange mix-up. Fisichella didn’t get to celebrate the opening win of his career the way he deserved, and Räikkösen certainly didn’t feel good about giving up the trophy either