Raikkonen, A Real Human Among the F1 Automatons

ABU DHABI - There were several stories all tied together at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix on Sunday. The biggest, in sporting terms, was the narrowing of the battle for the 2012 drivers' title to just two: Sebastian Vettel of Red Bull, who finished the race in third and leads the series, and Fernando Alonso of Ferrari, who finished the race in second and trails Vettel by 10 points in the series.

But it was Kimi Raikkonen of Lotus who won the race, taking his first victory since his return from two years away from the series, who has to get the highest points for human entertainment value.

Raikkonen's nickname is Iceman, for both his nearly translucent color and his frosty demeanor. But on Sunday, with a dry, deadpan wit, the Finn established himself as probably the most fun driver in the series.

After winning the world title with Ferrari in 2007, he was constantly criticized for appearing to lack motivation. He left for two years to go rally racing, without much success. When he returned this year he seemed to be a transformed man in terms of motivation.

Indeed, even though he had not won a single race this year, he still started Sunday with a shot at the title because he had performed so consistently this season.

That chance at the title slipped away on Sunday. Now he's 57 points behind Vettel, and the maximum points a driver who wins both of the remaining races could win is 50. No matter. Raikkonen has won another race, the 19th of his career, and the first for his new Lotus team.

But aside from his excellent drive to victory - he took the lead after 20 laps, when Lewis Hamilton retired from the lead and the race with a fuel pressure problem - it was his contribution as a personality that entertained the most on Sunday.

In a series in which the multimillion-dollar-earning drivers are often tight-lipped and clean in anything they say in order not to upset sponsors, Raikkonen is extremely loose and natu ral, to say the least.

He says “amusing” things not necessarily to the journalists, but to his team and in reaction to his job. The Abu Dhabi Grand Prix presented a rich trove, such as the radio messages during the race from his engineer on the pit wall to Raikkonen in the car.

At one point, his engineer told him that Alonso was five seconds behind, adding, “I'll keep you updated on the gap, I'll keep you updated on the pace.”

“Just leave me alone, I know what I'm doing,” came Raikkonen's retort.

It might sound like he has problems with his team, but Raikkonen's praise of the team after the race, and his evident pleasure that the victory provided to pump up the team's morale, suggested otherwise.

The next gem of communication came during one of the periods when the safety car was on the track and the race was in suspension, with Raikkonen leading the pack behind the relatively slow safety car. (During this period, the driver has to weave from side to side to keep his car's tires warm in order to maintain grip when the race starts again. All drivers know this, but it can be forgotten occasionally.)

“We need to keep working all four tires, please, keep working all four tires,” said the engineer to Raikkonen.

“Yes, yes, yes, yes,” he responded. “I'm doing all the tires, you don't have to remind me every second.”

It was far from the usual polite banter between a driver and his team, but a real sign of Raikkonen's independence and no-nonsense style when it comes to human relations. After the race a journalist queried him about the radio communications in a well-attended press conference.

“It's normal, they just try to help you,” he said of the engineer. “But if you just keep saying the same thing two times a minute, I'm not so stupid that I can't remember.”

He may not, evidently, be the easiest man to work with at the team, but it is a pleasure to have a p lain-speaking driver back amongst the automatons