Kimi Raikkonen is making a comeback in the 2012 Formula One World Championship after two full years. He has been a racing world icon for past eleven years, but does not seem to have red cheeks on his return. With handful of race experience from rally to power boats, he is back inside the cockpit of the Lotus F-1 car, which however, is not the favorite team this season.
However, the Finn driver does not seem excited about his comeback, but is looking forward to the season opening in Australia, later this month.
“I am a little bit older, that’s all, but its the same really,” Raikkonen said. “It really hasn’t changed a lot, the car feels very similar. I was expecting to have more difficulties with it, but its pretty good.”
The 2007 World Champion has 18 wins and 157 Grand Prix to his name but does not make bold comments. Moreover, the 32 year old driver said he was not updated with the Formula One Championship, while he was away from the race track.
“I didn’t watch much the past few years, same people, similar stuff going on,” Raikkonen said. “I had other things to do than watch the races. It doesn’t mean I don’t like the sport,if I didn’t like the sport I would not be here.”
Lotus has delivered phenomenal performance in the pre season testing and put itself as a serious challenger to the bigger fishes like Red Bull Renault, Ferrari and McLaren. However, Raikkonen avoided making premature speculations about the performance or result of the team this season.
The big question is, how will the former World Champion perform, looking at the fact that the Formula One Championship has undergone some serious changes in past years, and he does not have the best to drive.
