I met some Finnish guys recently who were great fans of yours but they said you are too quiet! Would you say that you a very private person? Everyone is different at work to the way they are at home and it’s the same for me. When I am working, even though I like to do what I am doing, I am quite quiet. Maybe I’m a bit different when I am at home with my friends and my girlfriend - I am more relaxed when I am with them. People always try to change you and make you different but in the end you are going to be what you are otherwise life would be very difficult and you wouldn’t be happy any more. I don’t really mind what other people say to be honest – it doesn’t concern me.
Have you wanted to be a racing driver since you were small.Sort of. I have always loved speed and engines. When I sit in the car I just want to go as quick as I can; it’s really a passion for me. When I was young my idea used to change every day about what was best – one day it was motocross the next it was car racing. I never really thought I wanted be a Formula One driver. OK, perhaps when I was a little kid, but not seriously. It wasn’t until I went to England to race that I thought ‘maybe I could’. At that age you start thinking a bit more seriously. I was lucky to have the right people around me and they helped me get my break.
How did you enjoy living in England? I found it a bit strange at first mostly because I didn’t speak the language, but once I got used to it, it was fine. I lived in Chigwell with my manager who had a big house there. It was really nice. I didn’t get up to much though. I was living in England for almost two years but I only went to a nightclub once in all that time. My manager had a couple of brothers, one who played a lot of golf and another who was mad about training so I spent most of my time doing that.
You aren’t the only driver in the Raikkonen family are you? Your brother is pretty successful in the Finnish national rally championship. Yes, but he’s not quite as serious about his driving as me. Sometimes he’s interested and sometimes not so much. He does well when he does the rallies, but I think it's more hobby for him than anything else.
You are one of his biggest sponsors aren’t you? Sort of. I bought him his rally car. Actually, he built it with one of our cousins and then our cousin wanted to get rid of it. It was almost a brand new car and he wanted to do the rallies and have some fun with it so I helped him out.
Are you happy at McLaren at the moment? It’s really good. The people are really easy to work with and everything’s going reasonably well. It’s a good team to be with. They have so many people that they can look after things for you and that makes your life easier over a race weekend. They are very good at that.
When you joined McLaren people inevitably compared you to the team’s former Finnish driver, Mika Hakkinen. Does that bother you? If you go to a team where your double world champion countryman has just been then people are always going to compare you – I think that’s pretty normal. Some people maybe thought I was stepping into his shoes but not me – I just wanted to learn as quickly as possible and do as well as I could. Mika has become a good friend. We see each other when we have time – or rather when I have time because he has lots of time available now – but we don’t speak about racing when we get together. You cannot learn from anybody else how to drive the car and if you’re not good enough now then you shouldn’t be in Formula One.
You’ve had a much better season than David. Is that just luck or is it because you are a better driver than him? I don’t know. It could be both but it’s so difficult to say. Sometimes he’s quicker than me in qualifying and sometimes I’m quicker than him. I think qualifying has pretty much decided what’s going to happen this year. I’m just happy what’s happening for me this year and hope I can keep it up.