Kimi Raikkonen frightened the entire Sauber team by doing one thing before he made his Formula 1 debut

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Kimi Raikkonen made his Formula 1 debut at the Australian Grand Prix on this day in 2001. Raikkonen started out at Sauber, who were running in the upper midfield.

Raikkonen had won the Formula Renault UK championship in 2000, rattling off seven victories in 10 rounds and maintaining a 100% podium record. That earned him his place in F1.

He scored nine points in his rookie campaign, finishing in the top six on four occasions. McLaren were so impressed that they offered him a race seat alongside David Coulthard for 2002.

Across five seasons at Woking, Raikkonen won nine races and stood on the podium 36 times. However, he never managed to deliver the title.

His 2005 season was one of the best-ever showings from a runner-up as he took seven victories and 12 podiums, but unreliability cost him in his battle with Fernando Alonso.

A 2007 switch to Ferrari immediately paid off as Raikkonen mounted one of the greatest F1 comebacks to beat Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso in the title race. Two years later, his first stint in the sport came to an end.

Kimi Raikkonen gave Sauber a scare by falling asleep just before his first F1 race

Raikkonen qualified 13th for the Australian GP, lapping just under four-tenths slower than Heidfeld. His ‘completely relaxed’ demeanour – one he’d maintain throughout his career – stunned his new colleagues.

The debutant would go on to finish sixth, scoring what was then the final point after a penalty for Olivier Panis. But he very nearly missed the race altogether.

Engineer Jacky Eeckelaert revealed that Raikkonen had fallen asleep in his motorhome while the other drivers were preparing to go out on track for their warm-up laps. Sauber searched frantically and found him just in time.

“Just before the pit lane opened for the warm-up lap, Kimi was nowhere to be seen,” Eeckelaert said, via Motorsport Netherlands. “We searched everywhere and eventually found him asleep in the motorhome.

“He had just laid down and was completely relaxed, while he was about to drive his first Formula 1 race.”

Why Frank Williams turned down the chance to bring Kimi Raikkonen back to F1

Raikkonen was nicknamed ‘The Iceman’ after joining McLaren. He doesn’t know exactly how they came up with that moniker, but he suspects it was derived from the 1986 blockbuster ‘Top Gun’.

After walking away in 2009, Raikkonen returned with Lotus in 2012. It was a successful comeback – at least at first – as he scored victories in Abu Dhabi and Australia.

Raikkonen could have joined Williams instead, but a fellow team member convinced eponymous founder Sir Frank that they weren’t ‘ready’ to house a world champion. They had only scored five points during the 2011 season.

After two years at Enstone, Raikkonen returned to Ferrari, where it became clear that he was past his prime. Alonso and Sebastian Vettel comfortably beat him in the intra-team battles.