In 1999, Räikkönen placed second in the European Formula Super A championship for the Dutch PDB Racing Team – run by 1980 world champion Peter de Bruijn – utilising a Gillard chassis.

He was nevertheless granted his licence from the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA) after a performance delivery promise by his team boss, Peter Sauber,[11] and scored a championship point in his debut at the 2001 Australian Grand Prix.

The decision to choose Räikkönen over his Sauber teammate, the Mercedes linked Nick Heidfeld, was heavily influenced by Häkkinen who repeatedly told Ron Dennis "If you wanna win, get the Finn.

Räikkönen came close to winning his first Grand Prix in France but went off track at the Adelaide hairpin with a handful of laps to go, because of oil from the blown engine of Allan McNish's Toyota on the circuit.

At the European Grand Prix, Räikkönen flat-spotted his right front tyre, causing his suspension to fail while he led on the final lap, handing a further ten points to his rival Alonso.

At the San Marino Grand Prix, a bad choice of strategy and a mistake from Räikkönen in qualifying saw the McLarens get caught in traffic in the early part of the race allowing Michael Schumacher and Alonso to get away at the front.

Räikkönen started the season in Australia by taking pole position, setting the fastest lap, and becoming the first driver since Nigel Mansell in 1989 to win his first Grand Prix with Ferrari.

[32] Räikkönen's Drivers' Championship was briefly put into doubt when race stewards began an investigation after identifying possible fuel irregularities in the cars of Nico Rosberg, Robert Kubica and Nick Heidfeld following post-race inspection.

In January 2008, Räikkönen was beaten by Tero Pitkämäki in the race for the annually chosen Finnish Sports Personality of the Year award; finishing in second place in the competition.

[39] After the race, Mike Gascoyne, the Chief Technology Officer of Force India announced they were filing official protests with the stewards over the incident, demanding a ban for Räikkönen.

[63][64] In the week before the 2011 Singapore Grand Prix, several news sources reported that Räikkönen was eyeing a return to Formula One for 2012 with Williams, after he was spotted at the team's headquarters in Grove, Oxfordshire.

Good pace in dry conditions from the qualifying session was proven in the race as Räikkönen succeeded to finish fourth, and eventually gaining the last podium spot after Sebastian Vettel was penalised for an illegal overtaking manoeuvre.

After a five-week long summer break, the much speculated introduction of a 'Drag Reduction Device' by the Lotus F1 team was delayed due to bad weather conditions on Friday for the Belgian Grand Prix.

At the Japanese Grand Prix, Räikkönen qualified eighth after spinning at his final attempt in Q3 and finished sixth after being passed by McLaren's Lewis Hamilton after the second round of pit stops.

On 4 November 2012, Räikkönen won his first race for the Lotus F1 team at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix after a good start from fourth saw him take Pastor Maldonado and Mark Webber at the first corner.

He was unable to match the pace of Hamilton, but a mechanical issue retired the McLaren and allowed Räikkönen to win the race, despite pressure from the Ferrari of Alonso in the closing stages.

[74] At the Chinese Grand Prix, he qualified and finished second, despite having to regain the two places he lost at the start and having damaged the front of his car while battling Sergio Pérez for position.

At the next race in Monaco, Räikkönen started fifth but an aggressive overtake by Pérez gave him a puncture and dropped him out of the points until a last-ditch attempt on the final lap where he overtook Esteban Gutiérrez, Valtteri Bottas and Nico Hülkenberg to gain 10th place.

Although Räikkönen did gain some places in the race, he was eventually forced to retire with a brake related issue on lap 27, ending the Finn's record-breaking run – also numbering 27 – of consecutive points finishes.

Another pit issue befell Räikkönen during practice for the Bahrain Grand Prix as he was reprimanded for exiting the pitlane in a 'potentially dangerous manner' by the stewards, having swerved around a standing car in an undesignated area.

[97] Courtesy of a considerate tyre strategy by the Ferrari team, at the Bahrain Grand Prix, Räikkönen finished second after gaining that position late in the race and starting from fourth on the grid.

After a disappointing showing caused by changing weather in Great Britain, Räikkönen bounced back strongly running second behind Vettel looking set for a 1–2 in Hungary, when a technical failure regarding the energy recovery system meant he lost straightline speed.

Räikkönen scored his first pole position in 129 races at the Monaco Grand Prix, qualifying 0.04 seconds faster than teammate Sebastian Vettel to become the sport's oldest polesitter since 1997.

[124] Räikkönen qualified fourth at the Singapore Grand Prix,[125] but after getting a great start, was hit by Max Verstappen, who avoided Vettel's aggressive move across the circuit, which ultimately ended up in a crash that put all three drivers out of the race.

At the Belgian Grand Prix, Räikkönen had strong pace during qualifying, but a fuel miscalculation by Ferrari meant that he could not complete a lap in the drying conditions later in session which left him sixth on the grid.

During the Italian Grand Prix at Monza, Räikkönen ran as high as second after a red flag and penalties to Lewis Hamilton and Giovinazzi, however ultimately finished 11th and outside the points.

On 20 May, Räikkönen debuted at the North Carolina Education Lottery 200 at Charlotte Motor Speedway with a strong finish of 15th, though he started the day with tough practice sessions and qualified only at 31 out of 37 trucks.

During his early years at McLaren, Ron Dennis gave him the nickname, "Iceman", with several layers of meaning; apart from its association with the cold climate of Finland, he is widely considered to have a cool temperament under pressure and also an 'icy' persona with most other drivers, team members and the media.

[215] Apart from his on-track driving, off-track instances demonstrating this calm demeanour include being asleep 30 minutes before his first Formula One race[12] and eating an ice cream during the temporarily-suspended 2009 Malaysian Grand Prix.

During the 2006 Monaco Grand Prix, his McLaren MP4-21 broke down as the heat shield had exploded and he was forced to retire; he went from his car straight to his nearby yacht, fully dressed in his racing suit and immediately relaxed in his jacuzzi.