Kimi’s 10-year old son Robin Raikkonen has already been very successful in karting, winning a major championship in 2024.
Robin has recently sharpened his skills further at the Rotax Max Challenge International Trophy Asia in Thailand, which unfortuantely ended with frustration for the young Iceman at the Bira Circuit.
The Raikkonen name has become synonymous with motorsport as Robin’s father Kimi had an illustrious career in Formula 1.
In a dramatic finale at the Brazilian Grand Prix in 2007, he won the world championship for Ferrari. Raikkonen clinched the title ahead of McLaren’s rookie Lewis Hamilton and a frustrated Fernando Alonso.Since leaving Formula 1 at the end of 2021, Raikkonen has done very little racing after such a lengthy career at the highest level of motorsport.
He competed in two NASCAR Cup Series events on road courses across 2022 and 2023 but failed to finish at the front.The 2007 Formula 1 world champions’ first foray back into competitive action was at Watkins Glen for Trackhouse Racing.
It was a difficult weekend that ended in the tyre wall after getting caught up in an incident which damaged the car.
Raikkonen returned the following season with Trackhouse Racing once more to compete at the EchoPark Automotive Grand Prix.
Circuit of the Americas hosted the race on the same track where Raikkonen took his final F1 victory at in 2018. The former Formula 1 driver raced at the front but struggled with tyre life towards the end and dropped to 29th place at the chequered flag.
Alongside some one-off NASCAR appearances, the now 45-year-old Raikkonen has focused on his son’s karting career.
The youngster has already had success in his short spell behind the wheel so far, winning the Micro Max category of the Swiss RMC (Rotax Max Challenge) championship in 2024. He won the championship in a deciding race on a rain-soaked Sarno track in Italy, and was incredibly impressive as he stormed through the field.
In that race, Raikkonen moved up to 12th from 22nd by the third lap of the race and finished in eighth place at the chequered flag.
Raikkonen then inherited fifth position after post-race penalties were applied to other competitors.
Despite being Finnish, the nine-year-old raced under a Swiss licence after winning the Swiss Championship in the Micro Max class.
Robin has continued his good form into the start of 2025, taking eighth place in the final of the Rotax Max Challenge International Trophy Asia in January.
At the event, Raikkonen was immediately on the pace, setting the third-quickest time in qualifying practice. He was fractionally slower than pace-setter Poomsit Klombunjong.
After the eight-lap qualifying, the good form continued in Heat 1, taking second place at the chequered flag behind Thai driver Klombunjong.
here were two races left in Thailand as Raikkonen continued to battle at the front with a drive to fourth in the Super Heat. The home hero won the race and remained difficult to beat at his home circuit.
Heading into the final race of the weekend, Raikkonen looked to end on a high and had an opportunity to fight at the front after starting on the front row in second place.
During the race, however, he got pushed wide, ruining his chance of victory of a podium which, until that point, he was very much in contention for. After 14 laps, the youngster finished in eighth place, behind Belgian entry Jef Verbeke, who took victory after a highly competitive event.
On his Instagram, Robin said “Started P 2 and got pushed wide, finished P 8. Not the end result we wanted after a very strong and fast weekend. Thanks Thailand! It was a great new experience!”
Raikkonen’s dad Kimi, who was in attendance at the RMC International Trophy Asia this year supporting his son, is heavily involved in Robin’s karting career.
The progression of the young Raikkonen will be intriguing as he has already won races and a title in the early stages of his karting career. With his father’s support and inherited driving talent, we could well be seeing him move up the motorsport ranks in the years to come.
