FINLAND / MOTOR RACING: Fans celebrate as Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen secures his first Formula One title

Hundreds of fans gathered in sports bars across Helsinki on Sunday (October 21), to cheer on Kimi Raikkonen who unexpectedly went on to win the F1 world championship. Raikkonen , won the Brazilian Grand Prix leaving his rivals, McLaren's Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso trailing in his wake. Hamilton had gone into the race as championship leader with a four-point lead over Alonso. But the evening became increasingly tense as it became clear that Raikkonen had a chance to win the championship. Raikkonen led his Brazilian team mate Felipe Massa in a one-two finish. Double world champion Alonso was third and 57 seconds behind the winner and Hamilton who finished in seventh place. Raikkonen, the third Finnish Formula One world champion after Keke Rosberg (1982) and Mika Hakkinen (1998 and 1999), ended the season with 110 points to Hamilton and Alonso's 109. Hamilton is runner-up on second places. Finnish motor racing fans admitted they were as stunned by Kimi Raikkonen's unexpected 11th-hour charge to the Formula One world title. After the 'Iceman' upset the odds by winning the Brazilian Grand Prix with title rivals Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso of McLaren trailing in his wake, festivities geared up slowly as the temperature plunged to near freezing in Helsinki. The streets were generally quiet and only a few cars honked their horns around the Esplanade Park in central Helsinki. Finns had not dared to take anything for granted, especially after Raikkonen had been left behind by fellow Ferrari driver Felipe Massa and Hamilton in Saturday's (October 20) qualifying, and trailed both McLaren drivers in the overall standings.

ITN Source | October 23, 2007

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