Today is October 17th, which means its Finnish racing driver Kimi Raikkonen’s 38th birthday! Raikkonen is best known as a top competitor and former world champion in Formula 1 and currently races alongside teammate Sebastian Vettel. Raikkonen secured his title win in 2007 shortly after signing up with Ferrari, and he continues to race under the banner of the Prancing Horse today.

Raikkonen first entered the cutthroat world of F1 in 2001, racing for Sauber after a successful career in karting and various national formula car championship series. In 2002, Raikonnen grabbed a seat with McLaren, earning his first F1 race win in 2003 at the Malaysian Grand Prix. After a series of up and downs, Raikkonen handed Ferrari its last world championship to date. Interestingly, the Finn also had a brief stint getting sideways in the World Rally Championship. Between 2009 and 2011, Raikkonnen took part in 21 events racing for the Citroen Junior Team and the iterative ICE 1 Racing team. He also raced a truck in NASCAR for Kyle Busch.

Known for being straight to the point during interviews (although, at times, slightly incoherent), as well as his propensity for napping prior to races and partying hard afterward, the world of racing is a whole lot more interesting when Raikkonen is around.

Happy Birthday, Kimi!

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