Max Verstappen Embodied “Iceman” Kimi Raikkonen on His Journey to Becoming “Mad Max”

‘Mad Max’ and ‘Ice Man’ are two of the most iconic names in the world of Formula 1. One belongs to the reigning world champion Max Verstappen, while the other is of retired driver Kimi Raikkonen. Ever wondered why they’re named that way?

The former Ferrari driver’s calm nature got him this name. However, there was an occasion when Raikkonen went out of his usual way and became a subject of a few headlines. The 2013 Indian Grand Prix saw the other side of the then Lotus driver. Verstappen, who was yet to debut in F1 nine years back, was also somehow influenced by it.

The Dutchman put up a post on his Instagram on October 28, 2013, that has Kimi Raikkonen as its subject. The post is a picture of the Finn with “Keep calm and don’t f**ing shout at me” written on it.

The context of the post was the 2013 F1 Indian Grand Prix when the ‘Iceman’ vented out his frustration at his race engineer, who asked him to “get out of the **** way!”

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Raikkonen got his name from the former McLaren CEO Ron Dennis because of his extremely cool and calm behavior during the 2003 Malaysian Grand Prix. The Ice Man managed to keep his cool and drive home his McLaren while other drivers faced issues.

Max Verstappen on his ‘Mad Max’ title

The 2021 F1 champion is known for his on-track competitiveness and aggressiveness. These attributions got the Dutchman named ‘Mad Max’ after his 2018 incident with Esteban Ocon. The Red Bull driver shoved the Frenchman after the conclusion of the Brazilian Grand Prix.

Verstappen received punishment from FIA for the unprofessional behavior as it breached the sport’s code of conduct. Verstappen had to serve two days of public service following FIA’s directive.

However, Verstappen does not agree with the nickname as he thinks he is not ‘Mad Max’ or he never ‘was.’ Talking about this, the Red Bull star stated, “I was never ‘Mad Max’. I was just Max who was trying to get the best result for the team.”

“As a driver, I will always be the same guy.”

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The former Toro Rosso driver also conveyed to Reuters in 2019 that he needs to be more mature, “It’s going to be my fifth season so there are no excuses anymore and you have to be mature.”