a collection of articles with stories from Heikki Kulta’s new book about Kimi Räikkönen:
A new book tells the story of Kimi Räikkönen’s special night in São Paulo: The championship party ended in the back seat of ancient Lada, “Elvis” was taken onboard
In his book Iceman – Kimin matkassa, Heikki Kulta tells how the 2007 championship was celebrated in Brazil.
When Kimi Räikkönen won the 2007 F1 championship, Ferrari held a private celebration on October 21 in São Paulo. Heikki Kulta was the only Finnish journalist to be invited to the party.
Now Kulta tells in his book how the championship party went. He writes that team-mate Felipe Massa tried to teach Räikkönen the basics of samba at the party, but with very poor results.
“It would be hard to imagine the driver taking part in the TV hit Dancing with the Stars..”, Kulta states in the book.
According to Kulta, Räikkönen wanted to go elsewhere before midnight. In addition to Kulta, Räikkönen’s race engineer Chris Dyer joined. They ended up at the closing party of the F1 season hosted by the Redbull team.
“From five in the morning, the place started to close. I found Kimi’s in the middle of a cloud of smoke on the corner table where he and Vitantonio Liuzzi talked loudly. I was waiting for my time and I rushed that now we should leave when the place is closed, ”Kulta writes.
Eventually, Räikkönen and Kulta moved to queue for a taxi at the “backyard that seemed like a scrap yard”.
“Kimi didn’t have the patience at that point and he suggested that we take a rusty moped or a light motorcycle that looked abandoned in that yard. However, I advised that we better wait. A free car would still come, Kulta writes in his book.
In the end, it was their turn.
“To our luck, it was an ancient Lada. In it, Kimi saw a McLaren-era mechanic he introduced as Elvis. And of course he called his friend in our taxi. So the three of us crammed into Lada’s back seat. ”
On top of all that, the Lada’s back seat wasn’t completely intact.
“The mechanic sat on the left, Kimi in the middle and I on the right. “The spring sticking out of the worn bench was visible through the fabric in the middle and I guess it pressed straight into Kimi’s bottom. It was the actual championship ride to the hotel. Normally, the world’s mega stars move in limousines. We drove to the hotel on the championship night in a probably equally old car with which Kimi started his car hobby in Espoo as a little boy.”
According to Kulta, the trio arrived at the hotel just before seven in the morning. Kulta still congratulated Räikkönen for the championship win, after which a surprising thing happened.
“On a spur of the moment, we almost hugged what had never happened before and has never happened since. But it hasn’t come to those championships either ever since…”
The ride in Kimi Räikkönen’s helicopter got a bloody turn – “Someone will think Kimi hit me on the head with a mallet”
Kimi Räikkönen’s kind gesture was turning into a special catastrophe a decade ago in Japan, recalls Heikki Kulta in his book Iceman – Kimi’s journey.
In the book, Kulta recalls the 2006 Japanese GP in Suzuka.
Kulta, who was on the spot in Japan, was wrestling with bad logistical problems at the time. He was supposed to return to Finland after the race on Monday morning, but the move from Suzuka to Osaka was painful.
– Especially after the race on Sunday night, the roads are crowded and it takes hours.
– Then I came to the paddock, where I went for coffee at McLaren. Kimi just happened to be free and I told him about my problems getting to Osaka. He suggested bluntly that why I wouldn’t go with him, Kulta writes.
Räikkönen had ordered a helicopter transport for the evening, which still had room.
However, the friendly gesture meant to turn into a disaster.
– We left the paddock pretty briskly. Kimi warned that the actual climb to the helicopter was fast. There was no stopping because the place was teeming with fans waiting for their idol.
– Through the people, I pressed after Kim. To the helicopter we had to climb steep stairs and then enter a dim space. Kimi went ahead and I followed until I banged my head painfully on some sharp ceiling. I sat down next to Kimi in the back seat and I felt the hair on my head was quite wet. When I cursed, Kimi asked how I am. I said I hit my head and Kimi asked the pilot to turn on the light.
A wound on Kulta’s head, which was full of blood. The helicopter pilot offered Kulta a scarf which he pressed on his head.
– We took to the air, and in just over half an hour the Osaka lights were already visible. We continued on to the airport to a five star hotel on the roof of which we landed. We hopped down from the helicopter, and in that light I saw that the white silk scarf had turned red from the blood.
The little accident made Kulta wonder what would happen if he stepped bloodily out of the helicopter.
– I joked that if someone sees us, will probably think we are fighting in blood with each other. Maybe someone thinks Kimi hit me on the head with a mallet.
An outrageous news story was published about Kimi Räikkönen: “Next time we meet in court”
The German magazine AutoBild Motorsport once published an outrageous news story about Kimi Räikkönen, which is why the Finnish star was ready to sue the magazine.
During the 2005 Italian race weekend, the German AutoBild Motorsport published a violent story about Räikkönen, according to which the Finnish star would have been totally smashed the week before at the Monza tests.
However, the rumor was not true. According to Heikki Kulta, Räikkönen spent a total of 30 hours in Italy. The Finnish star, who arrived on the test track by helicopter, did laps on the test track for two days until he left home by helicopter.
According to Kulta, the sensationalist story was written by a journalist who was reportedly angry that a promised interview with Räikkönen had not been carried out on schedule. Because of this, the reporter would have written a false story to criticize the Finn.
Räikkönen even considered suing the magazine. However, the German newspaper apologized for the false story.
– I thought I’d take them to court, but I will probably not bother anymore. Next time, if they write something similar, we will meet in court. There are those stupid people, Räikkönen says according to the book.
– I guess everything has to be taken into account. If someone writes some shit, then we turn to the court. I will not let them ruin my days.
The hockey star turned into Kimi Räikkönen when Ferrari fans wanted to see their hero – “I went to scribble the autographs”
Former Leijonat defender Tom Koivisto held out his helping hand to Kimi Räikkönen with Ferrari fans, according to Heikki Kulta’s new book Iceman – Kimi’s Journey.
Räikkönen, who lives in Switzerland, became friends with Tom Koivisto and Mikko Eloranta, who played for the Rapperswil hockey team in the 2006-07 season, when one night he had been watching the duo in the Swiss league.
After the match, Räikkönen had gone to greet the Finnish duo and later in the evening the Finnish star invited Koivisto and Eloranta to the sauna.
– After the game, Kimi just showed up to greet us. We talked for a moment and we complained with Mikko that we only lacked a Finnish sauna. Kimi went home, but it only took a couple of hours for the cell phone to say that the sauna is warm – welcome! Since then, we went there to Wollerau and took a sauna until the morning, when there was a suitable holiday, Koivisto says in the book.
The trio quickly became friends and more often spent time together in Switzerland. Koivisto, who also played in the NHL and in the Lions’ shirt at the World Championships, also helped Räikkönen with enthusiastic supporters.
– There were enough Ferrari fans out there. Once, I put on a Ferrari sweatshirt, Kimi’s cap, sunglasses, and went scribbling the autographs which were wanted there. I calmed Kimi, that there is no worry because I’ve seen how he did it, Koivisto smiles.
It is what it is 