Kimi Räikkönen (26), who opened doors to his home for OHO, turned out to be a lot more laid back guy than his reputation tells. The world star, known of his nickname Iceman, was actually very relaxed person. Formula 1 driver Kimi Räikkönen’s and his model-wife Jenni Dahlman-Räikkönen’s (24) home Porkkala isn’t that kind of place where whoever can go whenever.
In the end of the curvy road there’s a metal gate, followed by a private asphalt road, lined by low light poles. After few hundred meters opens up a view to a fancy house right next to the sea and there are expensive cars parked on the yard. The villa the Räikkönens have owned for a couple of years is one of the couple’s three homes. They’ve one apartment in the centre of Helsinki and one house in Switzerland. Couple’s German shepherd Ajax is the first one to welcome the guests. There have been dogs in Kimi’s family before so getting an own dog was a natural decision. The master and the dog seem like an inseparable couple. Ajax swarms around his master quite often and demands for attention. “Ajax enjoys to go to the stables with Jenni, he’s got a girlfriend there too”, Kimi tells with a proud voice while he plays with his pet.
We bought a furnished house
When you step into the house, you find yourself in impressive room with a fireplace. After that you come to a spacious living room with a open kitchen. Besides the bedroom after the living room there are also few bedrooms in upstairs and there’s also enough space to stay a night in the sauna house which is located to the shore. Both the fire place room’s and living room’s wall towards the shore is made of glass from the floor to the ceiling. There’s plenty of views in this house. The villa was built in 1999. “Jenni likes to furnish more so she can take care of that part. Although most of the furniture were here already when we bought the place“, Kimi explains.
We ended up to Porkkala by coincidence
After the Formula 1 season Kimi has been spending lots of time in Finland. He doesn’t really give interviews on his holiday, because he wants to have as loose schedule as possible. Actually, Kimi doesn’t want to plan his free time at all. Kimi likes to spend time in Porkkala even though the greyness of November annoys a bit. The fact that they chose Porkkala to be their second base in Finland was more like a coincidence than very carefully thought move. “It doesn’t really matter where you are as long as it’s your own home. You get to see hotels enough during the season. It doesn’t take that much time to drive to the city and even by boat you get to Helsinki in half an hour“, relaxed Kimi says, sitting in the living room. The trip to the capital is easily by sea because Kimi owns a boat as well, besides several cars. “The weather isn’t so great at the moment that you would like to spend too much time outside. Maybe me and Jenni will go on holiday somewhere in the end of this month“, Kimi wonders.
Riding isn’t my thing
In the shelf of living room you can find the wedding photo which was published in the newspapers and under that there’s an invitation to Kimi and Jenni’s wedding which was held in 2004. The mistress of the house is out riding during this interview so Kimi is keeping an eye on the house with Ajax. There’s enough space for them to play around. “I did go and try riding with Jenni but I’m so badly allergic to horses that I couldn’t really do it”, Kimi tells. The Räikkönens have been called “Finland’s Beckhams” but Kimi doesn’t care about the trends, even though he’s wearing his cloth sponsor’s expensive shirt and trendy jeans. Kimi turns out to be a normal finnish man even though circumstances are better than many other guys’ at his age. “I don’t really go to buy clothes. I hate shopping. Going to the grocery store is enough for me”, Kimi laughs.
We don’t really argue
Kimi’s calm appearance doesn’t really meet the image which rumour articles and city legends have created of him. Kimi assures that he likes to be in Finland and he can go out normally. He doesn’t start to mock finnish reporters even though they have been lurking around in front of the Porkkala’s gate and taken pictures of the house from the air. Kimi doesn’t seem to stress of certain articles either. “Well yeah, we’d be having a crisis every other day if you believe the stories. And we always have lawyers if the stories go too far”, Kimi laughs. “Sometimes in the beginning we might have ended up arguing over some stories but not anymore. It’s enough that you know yourselves what’s the truth. We don’t really argue that much anyway”, Kimi points out.
The old friends have stood by
At the moment the man is bothered by the limitations after the knee operation. “Normally I’d go to play bandy or ice hockey but now after the surgery I have had to take a bit more calmly. Jenni and I don’t really do that much on our free time. Pretty often we just watch movies or television together and eat sweets. I miss finish sweets when I’m abroad”, Kimi admits. On their free time, Kimi and Jenni meet their friends, of course. “The best friends I have are still my old buddies. Of course I’ve got some friends from formula 1 world, like from Sauber team”, Kimi says. “Of course I know Jenni’s friends too and she knows mine but I’m not that close with them that I could just call them”, Kimi describes.
I still go out
Because of his work, Kimi has to spend lots of time apart from his wife. He doesn’t admit to be a very jealous type anyway. “I’m not jealous of Jenni while I’m abroad. We’ve got clear rules”, Kimi says shortly. Kimi doesn’t avoid answering to the questions about his relationship but he’s not too interested in discussing about the rumours of Jenni and her riding teacher Tomas von Retting and their close friendship. How must it feel when your own wife is told to be sleeping with her own riding teacher? “Yeah, you’d better ask them,” Kimi passes the question with a laugh. Another favourite subject on tabloids is Kimi’s partying. He still doesn’t get annoyed of the questions even though the subject can’t be too pleasant. “Well, I’m not going to quit going out just because someone wants to write about it. Although sometimes I wish no one would recognize me”, Kimi admits. “Things are so great now that I shouldn’t be complaining”, Kimi adds.
I don’t remember to call home
Kimi doesn’t get to see his parents too often during the F1 season, but that situation gets better during the off-season. Kimi admits that he’s not always too good at keeping touch with his love ones. “Usually I don’t remember to call home and then my parents call Jenni and ask how we both are doing”, Kimi reveals. Kimi is used to taking care of his own businesses and his parents don’t intervene their son’s money issues for example. “They don’t know how much I earn in a year, for example. They don’t intervene my businesses anyhow. I’ve managed to buy my own houses and I don’t think I have done anything really stupid either”, Kimi analyzes. When the season is on, media follows carefully how often Jenni is seen in races. “It’s nice to have some company in the evenings but during the days I’m so busy that we wouldn’t have time to be together. That’s why I tell Jenni every now and then that she doesn’t have to come with me to races. It’s not nice when the other one has to suffer.”
I’m not afraid of accidents
Kimi’s occupation isn’t the safest one of all. Still, fear is not an option for him. “I’m not afraid. You’ve got the wrong job if you’re afraid of accidents”, Kimi says. Also in civil life, Kimi knows how to drive and doesn’t admit to be a road hog anymore these days. “I’ve got some speeding fines. When I was younger, I was driving more recklessly but not anymore. Nobody drives exactly like the limitations say in Finland but I don’t speed any more than anyone else”, Kimi assures. Suddenly, Kimi’s cell phone starts to ring. Jenni reminds her husband to bring the digital camera with him. The couple has some plans for the night and it’s time for the guests to leave from impressive – and extremely clean – home. “Yeah, we do clean by ourselves. Although the cleaner comes once or twice a week” Kimi grins.
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