World Rally Championship
In 2010, Scuderia Ferrari faced a problem: Felipe Massa had returned to F1 after recovering from his head injuries (sustained at the 2009 Hungarian GP), and they’d also signed Fernando Alonso for the upcoming campaign – who was looking to bounce back from two lacklustre years with Renault after he’d quit McLaren at the end of 2007.
Räikkönen was still under contract, but it was agreed in late 2009 that he would take a sabbatical from F1 – albeit, a paid two-year sabbatical.
He made good on his time out, however, spending time in the World Rally Championship with Tommi Mäkinen Racing, the Citroën Junior Team, and his privateer team Ice 1 Racing.
Kimi got up to speed quickly, and in just two seasons in the WRC, Räikkönen clinched a best result of 5th in a Citroën C4 at the 2010 Rally of Turkey, for the Citroën Junior Team.
He also took a stage win, at a Superspecial test in the 2010 ADAC Rallye Deutschland, and beat much more experienced rally drivers to finish both seasons 10th in the championship standings.
America calling
After his stint in the WRC, in 2011 Räikkönen made his NASCAR debut with Kyle Busch Motorsports in the Camping World Truck Series.
While Kimi’s “Do I have the drink” quote from the 2018 Hungarian GP has since spawned many memes, he produced a similar quote about his water bottle at the Top Gear 300 race at Charlotte Motor Speedway in 2011, in the NASCAR Nationwide Series:
There were rumours of a Kimi Räikkönen NASCAR team, with possibly the same name as his privateer WRC team, but ultimately he made the decision to return to Formula One in 2012, driving for the Lotus F1 Team.
KPH car blog 