Motorsport | When Tuomo Mäkinen asked rally driver Kimi Räikkö if you take out insurance, the answer was the coolest Räikkö

In the formula Hero doesn’t want to be in a rally zero.

Kimi Raikkonen had won the Formula One world championship in 2007 and become a super popular hero. At the end of September 2009, the Ferrari team announced that it would terminate the Finnish contract one year before the end of the contract period.

In his book Unknown Kimi Räikkönen (2018) Kari Hotakainen says that Räikkönen was tired of the side products of the formula circus: bullshit and politicking.

Räikkönen’s dream was to win the world championship in F1 and rally as the first driver. It is a dream that no driver has ever achieved and may never achieve.

Of the F1 drivers, only the Argentinian Carlos Reutemann and Polish Robert Kubica in addition to Räikkönen, have also scored points in the World Rally Championship.

HS found out how the rally went from Räikkösen.

Formula 1 and rally require strong responsiveness, control of speed and driving game. At the bottom, there must be a strong inner fire to win and ambition.

Räikkönen had them all, but in the rally the problem was reading the notes and making them.

On the F1 circuit, Räikkönen was used to driving against other drivers, in the rally on the forest roads, the opponent was the clock.

“In a rally, the driver has to trust the map reader to read the note and go with it. In formulas, the same track is driven in one race, and the driver knows every corner”, says Tuomo Mäkinen. He was Kim’s team manager at the Jyväskylä World Rally Championship in 2009.

“Kimi was insanely fast in the public special tests of the rally, but otherwise driving a rally requires solid experience in handling a car. You can’t go into the World Series cold. Driving requires years of study and work.”

“

“When we went to the Tunturi rally, Kimi hadn’t driven the notes and didn’t understand much about them. I put the helmets on and told Kim to let go.”

Also cooperation with the map reader must be played. In formula, the driver makes his own decisions on the track. The management of the stable directs the operation with its own instructions.

The map reader for Räikkönen was a person who had recovered from back and leg problems Kaj Lindström, who had to separately request permission from the doctors of the International Automobile Federation (FIA). Lindström had hip surgery the previous year in 2008.

The doctors’ first verdict had been that he could no longer sit in a rally car.

When the rally license became hot again, the experienced Lindström was happy to go as the kart driver for the inexperienced Räikkönen.

Lindström currently works as the sporting director of Toyota’s rally team and is partly responsible for the recruitment of drivers.

The first one Räikkönen drove his rally in Rovaniemi in January 2009 in the traditional Arctic Lapland rally, formerly the Tunturi rally. The car was a WRC2 class Fiat Abarth Grande Punto Supra S2000.

Räikkönen had good relations with Ferrari, through whom he bought Fiat manufactured by the same group.

However, the car had to be tuned to rally settings before Tunturi. Help was found in Puuppola Tommi Mäkinen from the rally workshop. Mäkinen built Group N rally cars from Subaru there, which he sold and leased.

Tuomo and Tommi Mäkinen are brothers.

Tommi Mäkinen knew Räikkös somewhat from his past Sami Visan through. Visa had been dead in the 1986 World Rally Championship in Corsica Henri Toivonen friends and drove microcars in the senior class.

Visa knew how to adjust microcars. He became Räikkönen’s mechanic in the senior microcar races, as Hotakainen tells in his book.

On the same weekends, Räikkönen drove his own races with microcars, while Visa competed in the senior classes. In his free time, Räikkönen adjusted Visa’s car to driving condition at the race site for a fee of a few tens of marks.

When Räikkönen started in formulas, Visa became his manager.

“Time a lot of work had to be done in Tommi’s workshop to get the Fiat into a rally car. Tommi took it upon himself to make this a good car for Kim,” says Lindström.

“When we went to the Tunturi rally, Kimi hadn’t driven the notes and didn’t understand much about them. I put the helmets on and told Kim to let go. I read sheet music. I saw that Kimi can drive. Otherwise, I wouldn’t have dared to go on the ride. Kimi praised the Punto’s driving characteristics quite well.”

As Tommi Mäkinen’s old map reader, Lindström was used to reading notes quickly.

With Räikkönen, the situation was different. The speed was quieter than Mäkinen’s ride, and the Tunturirall has easy roads when compared to many World Cup rallies.

Lindström read notes to Räikkönen in numbers. The scale was from one to six. Number one was quiet, number six was full.

“The numbers were easy to grasp. When Kimi heard a small number, the road turned more and had to slow down. Kim had to drive what the eye saw and what the ear heard. On a slow platform, he had more time to react,” says Lindström.

“

“You’ve done pretty well for a first timer, when nine of the twelve glasses have broken. It’s pretty good at first pour.”

In the final results Räikkönen was thirteenth but had time to show that he has the speed. He lost the race to a Spaniard who drove outside the SM series To Dani Sordo about one second per kilometer.

Won the actual championship Juha Salowhen Sordo tested his equipment for the upcoming World Rally Championship in Sweden.

Räikkönen went outside for another special test, but still drove it faster than the three other Finnish F1 drivers who took part in the same rally Jyrki Järvilehto, Mika Hakkinen and Mika Salo.

Lindström remembers that Räikkönen was already interested in driving a WRC car before. Räikkönen was sitting Jukka Jalonen with in the front car in the 2008 Monte Carlo World Rally and was enthusiastic about what he experienced.

Ice hockey coach Jukka Jalonen’s full name was previously known, for example, for his participation in the Paris–Dakar rally as Julli Jumissarov.

Major the location of the screen was the same year’s 2009 Jyväskylä World Rally Championship, to which Räikkönen came with the greatest expectations. The car was also put in race condition at Mäkinen’s workshop.

Markku Alénin son Anton Alen drove the factory Fiat that year in World Cup rallies, but according to Tuomo Mäkinen, the car customized for Räikkönen in Puuppola was much better than the factory Fiat.

“Tommi built a car for Kimi that she could get by with. Tommi knew what kind of car should be in Jyväskylä. What kind of suspension and locks. Tommi also taught Kimi about issues related to rallying,” says Tuomo Mäkinen.

In Jyväskylä, Räikkönen’s hustle had the atmosphere of a big world when compared to other private teams. Tuomo Mäkinen led a team of 25 people as team manager.

“I saw that everything was going that way, as it should. I brought Kim to the competition venue in the morning and took her to bed in the evening,” says Tuomo Mäkinen.

On Saturday night’s last special stage in Väärnmaja, Räikkönen crashed his car and the rally ended there.

“

“I asked Kimi in the middle of the day if you would take out the insurance. Kimi replied that he doesn’t need it, since he has tt insurance.”

Scrap car was brought to Mäkinen’s workshop in Puuppola, where Räikkönen arrived to see it. Tommi Mäkinen also came and marveled at Punto’s scrap.

“You’ve done pretty well for a first timer, when nine of the twelve glasses have broken. It’s pretty good on the first pour,” he told Räikkönen, according to Tuomo Mäkinen.

Before the rally, Tuomo Mäkinen had talked with Räikkönen about insurance.

After all, Räikkönen drove his own car in Jyväskylä. The papers were ready. Räikkönen only had to sign the insurance. The issue had been discussed in the sauna during the rally week.

“I asked Kimi in the middle of the day if you would take out the insurance. Kimi replied that he doesn’t need it, since he has tt insurance.”

“What kind of insurance is that?” Tuomo Mäkinen was curious.

“Back pocket,” Räikkönen said and threw more sloppiness.

After the outing, Räikkönen’s car was repaired at a cost of more than 100,000 euros so that the car could be used in the following rallies.

In years In 2010 and 2011, Räikkönen drove a C4 WRC car with Lindström in the World Rally Championship in Citroën’s number two team.

“Kimi learned the technology of the car at once. There was no need to teach. Kimi was a natural talent and interested in machines,” says Tuomo Mäkinen.

According to Lindström, Räikkönen was well received in rally circles.

“The rally team is good. Everyone is welcomed as equals. When we start driving, there are no stars. We are like other drivers, neither worse nor better than others. Kimi noticed that everyone on the rally side is friends with each other until the race starts. The feeling is more relaxed than in formulas. The drivers can eat lunch at the same table. Kimi liked that.”

Räikkö has been considered to be quiet. Lindström has also seen the other side.

“At the rally in Mikkeli, I once had to say at the transition stage to be quiet sometimes. Let’s listen to the news. Situation changes, when someone comes with a microphone. Then Kimi freezes completely.”

Räikkönen’s best finish in a rally was Fifth place in the World Rally Turkey in April 2010. He took his first World Championship points (4) in the previous rally in Jordan, where he was eighth.

Turkey on the last special stage of the rally, it was pouring down. The road was dirty and slippery.

Lindström warned Räikkös not to drive too hard. Räikkönen kept his eyes firmly on the road and told his map reader: “Damn it, let me drive now.”

The testimony was similar to what Kimi said to the race engineer in the middle of the Abu Dhabi F1 race in 2012: “Leave me alone, I know what I’m doing.” (Leave me alone, I know what I’m doing.)

At the finish line of the Turkish rally, Lindström patted Räikkö on the shoulder and said that it went well. We reached the finish line. Räikkönen was no longer zero in the rally either.

“I felt that my role was also important. I didn’t want to be in the bush. You have to support the driver when he’s wearing a helmet,” says Lindström.

From early autumn 2011 Räikkönen told Lindström that he would return to Formula 1.

“I knew the rally would end. Kimi told me openly and knew that the information would not pass on from me.”

When Räikkönen’s second contract with Ferrari ended in the 2018 season, there were rumors in the public that he would move to the Toyota rally team led by Tommi Mäkinen.

Lindström lets out a small laugh and says that the question was a news duck and a misunderstanding.

“It was written that Kimi would come to us. We are happy to make him a car for a rally and we are happy to participate, but he is not an actual race driver. We cannot sacrifice race drivers. You have to remember the context.”

There was so much substance to the matter that Räikkö had been asked to try the rally version of the Toyota Yaris if he wanted to.

“It doesn’t make sense to pay so much to just drive,” says Tuomo Mäkinen.

Räikkönen’s long F1 career ended at the end of the 2021 season with Alfa Romeo.