2003 UNITED STATES GP

INDIANAPOLIS MCLAREN MP4-17D (2ND)

Raikkonen and Mclaren did a fine job with the updated MP4-17D in 2003, taking the title fight with Michael Schumacher to the Suzuka finale. Raikkonen’s first F1 win came in Malaysia, and he could have won the European GP at the Nurburgring had it not been for engine failure. But his drive against the odds at Indianapolis was perhaps his best of the year.

Raikkonen led from pole in the dry, chased by Ralf Schumacher’s Williams, before light rain arrived. That initially helped the Michelin runners, including Raikkonen and his pursuer. Schumacher stopped earlier and his impressive in-lap and out-lap got him ahead, but then he crashed as the rain intensified.

Raikkonen, like Michael Schumacher, had to come in again for wet tyres almost immediately. Raikkonen was soon back to third, but on the wetter track the Bridgestone rubber was far superior, giving Schumacher’s Ferrari the advantage. He overtook the Mclaren on lap 28 of 73.

Thanks to engine failure for Jenson Button’s BAR, Raikkonen was fourth after his final stop and change to dry tyres. He moved into third when Nick Heidfeld pitted, and overcame the other Sauber of Heinz-harald Frentzen with 18 laps to go.

Schumacher was long gone, having done the damage when the track was at its wettest, but Raikkonen was half a minute clear of the next Michelin runner. And he managed what fellow Michelin-shod rivals Ralf Schumacher and Juan Pablo Montoya had not – take the championship fight to the final race.

“When you’re in a wet-dry-wet race and you want to know when you should change tyres, just ask him,” says Raikkonen’s Mclaren engineer Mark Slade. “He was perfect, just absolutely brilliant.

“One of the best races he ever did was Indianapolis in 2003 when we were on the Michelin wets, and the Michelin wets were rubbish. Every stop we made was perfectly timed. He just drove his heart out. He didn’t win the race, but it was an absolutely phenomenal drive.”

Autosport agreed, scoring him

10/10: “Raikkonen did a perfect job, flattering his equipment to retain a whisper of a title chance.”