Raikkonen won't let title change his style
By Alan Baldwin Sunday, October 21st 2007, 20:38 GMT

Newly crowned world champion Kimi Raikkonen has vowed not to let the title win change him or his lifestyle.

Ferrari's 28-year-old Finnish 'Iceman', twice before a runner-up in the title standings with his former team McLaren, finally reaped the rewards on Sunday with victory in the Brazilian season-ender.

But the Finn, whose love of partying is as well-documented as his monosyllabic approach to the media, said he will remain the same person.

"It's not going to really change my life too much," he said. "People will probably try to make up more stories about me but I'm not going to change myself, I never did before and it's not going to happen in the future.

"I lead my life as I want and that's it. For sure, we are going to have a big party, not just here but next week...it's been a long season and it's hard to realise that we finally did it after many years."

Raikkonen, who stepped into retired seven-times world champion Michael Schumacher's shoes this season after five years with McLaren, echoed his German predecessor in saying the Italian team felt like a family to him.

"I enjoy every moment with the team," said the first driver since the late Argentine Juan Manuel Fangio to win the championship in his first season with Ferrari.

"I have enjoyed Formula One much more this year than I enjoyed the last few years, for many reasons -- not because of the driving, but for some other reasons.

"I'm more than happy to win the championship with Ferrari, especially in the first year with the team.

"It is such a nice big family, great people to work for. I'd rather win with them than anyone else," added Raikkonen, whose victory at Interlagos was his sixth of the year.

The triumph came at the end of one of the emotionally-charged and controversial of seasons, with Ferrari winning the constructors' championship after McLaren were stripped of all their points for a spying scandal.

Asked whether he felt beating McLaren's 22-year-old rookie Lewis Hamilton and double champion Fernando Alonso to the title was a sort of justice, Raikkonen hesitated.

"I think so, maybe yes," he said.

KIMI:冠军头衔不会改变我
刚刚加冕的新任世界冠军Kimi Raikkonen发誓他不会让冠军头衔改变他本人或是他的生活方式。

这位28岁的法拉利”冰人”在效力麦凯伦车队期间曾2次与年度车手总冠军失之交臂。这周日他终于凭借在巴西收官站上的完美胜利收获了自己职业生涯的第一个世界冠军头衔。

但是一向不善与媒体打交道，被盛传为“派对动物”的芬兰人表示，他不会因为世界冠军的名头改变自己。

“这不会太多的改变我的生活。”他说。“人们可能会编出更多的关于我的新闻，不过我还是不会改变自己，之前不会，将来也永远不会。”

“我按照自己喜欢的方式生活，就是这样。当然，我们会有一个大的派对来庆祝，不过不是现在，而是下周。。。这是一个艰难的赛季，很难想象这么多年之后，我们终于做到了。”

Raikkonen离开了效力5年的麦凯伦车队，在本赛季初转会法拉利接替退役的7冠王迈克尔•舒马赫。和他的德国前任一样，他也说这支意大利车队让他有一种家的感觉。

“我享受在车队里的每分每秒。”进入法拉利车队第一年就夺得年度总冠军的车手除了kimi以外，离我们最近的就要算已故阿根廷车手Juan Manuel Fangio了。

“今年，我比过去的几年都更享受F1这项运动，原因有很多——不仅仅是在驾驶方面，而是更多其他的原因。”

“能够跟法拉利一起赢得总冠军我非常开心，特别是这是我和车队合作的第一年。”

“这是一个大家庭，很好的工作伙伴。跟其他人相比，我最希望和他们一起赢得冠军。” Raikkonen补充说。他在因特拉格斯的胜利是他本年度第六个分站冠军。

在这样一个充满争议和情绪跌宕的赛季尾声，终于决出了最后的赢家。而法拉利车队在间谍案最终裁决麦凯伦车队被剥夺所有车队积分之后就已经把车队总冠军揽在怀中。

当被问到自己击败麦凯伦车队22岁的新人Lewis Hamilton和两次世界冠军得主Fernando Alonso是否体现了这项运动的公正性时，Raikkonen稍做犹豫。

“我想是的，可能是。”他说。

~~~我的生日愿望实现了，kimi终夺冠军！~~~