In the final part of my series about Kimi Raikkonen's F1 comeback we head to Singapore for Formula One's only night race. This race was first introduced to the calendar in 2008, and in his two outing's at the circuit for Ferrari The Iceman recored a DNF and a 10th place finish so it is not a circuit that he has done too well at. However this year Kimi was hoping that his luck would change.
In qualifying on Saturday he managed to put the Lotus on the 5th row of the grid in 9th place and went on to finish in 6th place for another strong points finish. The race was won by RedBull's Sebastian Vettel. Following on from Singapore we headed for Suzuka, and the Japanese GrandPrix and a track that the ICEMAN has alway done well at.
On Saturday, Kimi managed to qualify in 7th place, however the Finn was involved in first corner incident with Championship contender Fernando Alonso who was forced out of the race, However despite the racing incident Kimi was able to continue and went on to finish in 6th place albeit 50.4 seconds behind race winner Sebastian Vettel.
The two race's in Korea and India were new circuit's for Kimi and when asked in an interview how did he learn a new circuit Kimi's replied in only the way Kimi can by saying "I drive it'.
In Korea, the ICEMAN qualified in 5th place and endured a very quiet race and finished in that place picking up some more valuable points for his championship and the team.
From Korea it was on to India, as I said another new track for the Finn. For this race Kimi started from 7th on the grid and while Sebastian Vettel won his fourth race in a row Kimi once again finished the race in the position he qualified in. So now there are only three race's left in the 2012 season, Abu Dhabi, USA and Brazil and question's are being asked with Sebastian Vettel's form will Kimi be able to win a race this season?
The answer came at the very race at the Yas Marina circuit in Abu Dhabi. Sebastian Vettel was forced to stop on track during qualifying with a problem. This meant that the German would start from the back of the grid, however the team opted to work on his car and he ended up starting from the pit lane. Kimi started the race from 4th on the grid and made an incredible start and ended up in second place behind Lewis Hamilton. Kimi was on to finish on the podium in second behind Lewis Hamilton, however the Lewis' car let him down and THE ICEMAN took the lead and begun to pull away from the chasing Ferrari of Fernando Alonso.
So the ICEMAN won in Abu Dhabi becoming the 8th different winner in a sensational season. It was also Enstone's first win under the Lotus GP name. It was an incredible drive by the Finn by winning the race he was able consolidate his place in third in the Driver's Championship.
Following the Abu Dhabi GrandPrix we headed to Austin, Texas for F1's first trip to the US since 2007. This was another new race for Kimi with one difference it was new for everyone on the grid. The Finn started the race from 4th on the grid and went on to finish 6th in the race.
So following on from Austin, we headed to Sao Paulo, for the final race of the 2012 season. Kimi started the race from 8th on the grid and went on to finish in 10th place.
So Kimi was the only driver to go the entire season finishing every race and only failing to score points in point. The ICEMAN finished the season in third in championship, and he only won the one race. Lewis Hamilton won four race's, Mark Webber won two race's while Jenson Button won three race's but due to his fantastic consistency this season Kimi finished in third.
In conclusion, Kimi Raikkonen's Formula One comeback was an incredible success.
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