The prancing horse that escaped the silver arrows!

Finally the moment of glory!!Kimi Raikonnen wins the world championship for the first time with Ferrari!After 7 years of struggle(especially two unlucky seasons) 2007 was anything but easy for the champ.

By the end of last year, when it was announced that ferrari have signed kimi for the 07 season, 90 out of 100 F1 fans would have told you that it should be (and not would be!) an easy walk for kimi to win the championship this year. The start of the season in Australia(which I was lucky to witness) was a testament to the same. As the season progressed,though, the sport and the drivers painted a different picture altogether.

Mclaren fought back brilliantly in Malaysia to take the fight back to Ferrari but it was still early days in the championship where all the teams were developing their cars almost every race. By the time we got to Monaco followed by Canada and the US, Mclaren and in particular the rookie almost stamped their authority on this season. This was also due to the reliability problems that Ferrari were having in their cars.

One must acknowledge Hamilton for the brilliant drive this year finishing only one point behind Raikonnen. The results themselves speak for his brilliance as a driver.Mclaren have done a great job on the track this season and by mid season(and I can bet my bottom dollar on it)even kimi was probably regretting the move to ferrari from Mclaren!By mid season most people would have written off Kimi for the championship hunt.Most people except the Iceman himself!

Then came France followed by Britain.Great wins in both races instilled the confidence back in the 28 year old and then there was no looking back. From nowhere he took 27 points advantage over Hamilton to win the Brazilian GP and the championship at Interlagos.

Ferrari, being a very emotional team, were looking forward to someone that can replace Michael after he ended his career last year. Kimi,certainly with his championship victory now, will be the man for this team's future. He is only the second man behind Fangio to win the championship the first year with a new team.

After the exit of the great Schumacher last year, the sport did run the risk of losing a lot of fans because of the sheer dominance of Michael over the years. One must say that now that the season has ended it is clear that certainly the number of fans would have grown exponentially. Thanks to a brilliant Kimi, a determined Alonso and the multi talented Hamilton that this great sport is in very safe hands!