The UnKnown Kimi Raikkonen – Kari Hotakainen
Published by Simon & Schuster Ltd
The unfortunate thing about the latest biography of Kimi Raikkonen is that it apparently is the last ‘authorised’ book on the Formula One champion. Unfortunate because he still is in F1, still young, has a lot of life yet to live and with plenty still to be told. Maybe it is Raikkonen’s media reluctance that he won’t want to go through this process again.
This is a book that I actually struggled to read and in the end made myself finish the book for this review. While it covered Kimi’s life in general, it really didn’t give an insight into what makes this person tick. We learn about his early motorsport involvement through to his abrupt debut into Formula One, his time rallying and returning to the F1 paddock. We learn about his family relationships and importance of his loyal friends but as a Formula One fan, did I get an insight in this great driver? No.
Would a non-motorsport fan find this biography a great, if not good read? I doubt it.
The book fails to deliver on many counts and as it would be targeted towards Formula One fans I think they will be disappointed.
If you want a really good insight into Raikkonen and particularly his racing career, then I thoroughly recommend listening to Tom Clarkson’s Podcast ‘Beyond the Grid‘ published just two week’s ago Click Here
Clarkson asks the insightful questions, particularly into his motorsport career, for example “When in your career have you been happiest? Your best team mate in F1? Who wears the trousers at home?”. In just under 50mins of questions and answers, this podcast is one that you almost hang on to every word Raikkonen says, and we know he is a man of few words.
While my opinion on Hotakainen’s biography is that it is poorly written and lacks substance, Radio New Zealand book reviewer Hugh Barlow felt the opposite. If you want his opinion then click on the following link https://player.fm/1vABrj
It’s a book that I will have in my bookcase, but not one I would recommend or give someone for Christmas.
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