F1 Rewind: Kimi Raikkonen Shows How to Overtake Someone in Monaco in Style

At the Circuit de Monte Carlo, it is normally difficult to overtake, but it is not impossible. Only the most skilled and experienced drivers can pick out the best overtaking hotspots. Kimi Raikkonen is one such experienced driver, and the Finnish driver executed an excellent overtake on Mark Webber.

The scene of the insane pass was in the opening laps of the 20o6 Monaco Grand Prix. Fernando Alonso led the race at the start, with Mark Webber and Kimi Raikkonen trailing him. During lap two of the 78-lap race, Raikkonen swooped around the outside of Webber’s Williams after exiting the Sainte Devote corner.

The exit of Sainte Devote is not really a conventional place to overtake, especially around the outside. However, the McLaren driver had faith in his skill and enough trust in Webber to make a clean overtake. To be honest, in circuits like Monaco, any wrong move from either driver could end in disaster.

So, if drivers need to pull off daring moves or overtake in unusual places, a form of mutual trust is needed. Otherwise, there would always be a fear of taking each other out of the race, which will be far worse if they are teammates.

Where did Kimi Raikkonen finish in the race?

Sadly for Kimi Raikkonen, he ended up retiring from the race, with his car on fire. Apparently, his McLaren’s heat shield caught fire for the second time that weekend. The bad news was that the fire burned through the car’s wiring and cut off the electricity to the engine. However, the Finn opted to return to his private yacht for a couple of drinks, as the race carried on.

Meanwhile, Webber departed much earlier, as his exhaust went up in smoke at the exit of the pit lane. The Safety Car had to be scrambled out so that Webber’s stricken Williams could be carted off track in a safe manner.