Jenson Button Speaks About Kimi Raikkonen at McLaren (2023)

Includes many testimonials from different paddock figures.

[gandalfthefool]

I noticed when Kimi was at his peak, he seemed to spend very little time loading the car with maximum steering angle. He was able to rotate the car really efficiently compared to some other drivers who needed to hold on to the maximum steering angle for a while to get the rotation.

[george._mav]

What kimi did in qualifying in 2006 goes massively under the radar with a weaker car
Some fantastic poles in hungary and hockenheim
But also his p2 in silverstone with a damaged car was phenomenal.
His race pace was exceptional too. I believe he couldve won a race in spa had they raced there and also his speed in china was frightening

Not a single driver past or present would've beaten kimi from 03-06 in mclaren Mercedes

[AnkoMark]

Kimi was a top racer who just doesn't give a shit.

[apa]

If McLaren didn't struggle with reliability with their cars during those years, Kimi could've won at least 2 titles with them.

in 2007 McLaren's pace was just a little bit quicker than Ferrari that year but Ferrari had Kimi. They scored 218 points to Ferrari's 204 points in 2007, but they unfortunately had to be disqualified from the constructors' championship because of the spygate.

[detonator]

Kimi in his prime at McLaren 2003-2006 was just insanely fast. Monaco 2005 qualifying was one of the best laps ever. He was never again the same driver at Ferrari (despite winning the title there in 2007).

[RahulKapoor]

What we all must remember, it was only his hobby.

[chanchaniceman]

While I was a huge Schumacher fan growing up but Kimi’s performances in 2003 especially wowed me as a 10 year old when I don’t understand terms or phrases like “extracting performances out of a car” or even understand the complex details rewatching all of these race and quali clips after years of watching it just made me understand a lot about how insanely and naturally talented Kimi is. His time at McLaren in terms of his peak performance definitely was his best. It’s a shame he didn’t win 1 or 2 titles at McLaren with the 2005 one very much his title

[godfathermbs]

the way they speak about kimi's ability of extracting everything over 1 lap reminds me of what many people say about leclerc. not saying leclerc is in that same level over 1 lap but its something that seems like its the biggest strenght of both

[DarthJF]

Some people look down on Kimi because he has "only" one championship, but forget that Kimi never had the out and out best car during his entire career. 2005 McLaren was fastest, but way too unreliable, and during his championship year in 2007 at Ferrari, McLaren was the better car. 2008 was ironically the year he probably had best car relative to competition, but the second half of that season was disaster for him. Partly due to mistakes, but also just lot of bad luck and factors beyond his control. Kimi's tally of fastest laps that season is a painful reminder of what could have been.

What Kimi achieved with the machinery he had vs. the competition he faced is honestly incredible. The way he almost dragged a year old car to championship vs. Michael Schumacher and Ferrari in the middle of their dominance in 2003 is probably the best illustration of that.

[Uno.Numero]

There were a lot of drivers which were fast in Formula One right down to Seb, Max, Lewis, Lando, Alonso but none were frighteningly fast as Kimi.

[ohareport]

getting actual applause out of flavio for that monaco lap was probably the most convincing thing in this video

[MrYoumitube]

I 1000% agree, Kimi prime was in McLaren. I wished they had given him a reliable car. I would take him over Verstappen, Hamilton, Mika, Vetell, Alonso... Maybe Senna, Schu I would rate the same.

[RKKNNMHKK]

Kimi, Fernando and Lewis are the three fastest drivers from the last 20-25 years for me. Unreachables.

[maplechill]

If the ‘05 McLaren wasn’t as fragile as spring ice, Kimi would have won the Championship that year.

[digilux]

Make Kimi great again. Bring Kimi back! 🙌

[iordanstefan]

2:21 that hairline starting so back recived a 10 place grid penalty

[dtm]

More genius from Martin Brundle at 1:25 where every driver he mentioned (aside from Webber, who got extremely close in 2010) went on to become WDC

[solsol]

Never liked him, but I agree for a few years he seemed to me to be the fastest. Plus he was always a clean driver.

[hungrysurfer]

With the Michelin tyre he had a powerful front tyre that suited his point and squrt style enabling him to rotate the car and pick up the throttle very early in the corner going in fast rotate and then huge exit speed with no run wide understeer slide. Bridgestone tyres had a weaker front end and ran wide, messing up his point rotate and squrt out of the corner style. So his Ferrrari Bridgestone days were not as dominant vs his teammate as McLaren Michelin team mates.

[zacharystern]

So happy he won a world title in 07, but I’ll always remember 03-05 was when Kimi hit god-mode