Motor Sport Formula One: Kimi Raikkonen appears a little underdressed when he is not wearing his new McLaren MP4-19. In mufti he is about as exciting as the drizzle-damp Woking afternoon.

Quiet and shy, he looks down while he mumbles his answers, monosyllabically, to questions about the approaching Formula One season. Away from the track he can appear to be travelling incognito, though the helicopter is a bit of a giveaway.

According to BusinessF1 magazine, Raikkonen may earn £80m over five years with McLaren. A championship, or a bid from Ferrari, could push that figure through the roof.

He is made of ice, according to his team principal Ron Dennis. But there is something enticing about ice, especially when there is a decent gin and a bottle of tonic at hand. It took a cool £13m for Dennis to prise the young Finn away from his contract with Sauber at the end of the 2001 season.

The words might not come easily but this is the man most likely to break Michael Schumacher's unbroken run of four world championships for Ferrari when the new season gets under way in Melbourne this weekend.

"I wouldn't be put off by him being an introvert," says Stirling Moss, whose personality is a tad more ebullient. "Jim Clark was very quiet and he just happened to be one of the finest drivers there ever was.

"The great thing about Kimi is that he's very fast, naturally, effortlessly quick. You can't really teach that."

There does seem to be a Finnish thing when it comes to driving, whether it be rallying or formula one, a precocity in speed and control, and no one admires this more than Dennis, for whom Raikkonen might be an adopted son. He brakes that little bit later than the others and then hits the accelerator a split-second faster. In these nano-seconds, races and championships are won and lost.

"I am learning with every test and every race and every mile," he says. "I think I have more speed and self-confidence after last year. I'm more mature."

A cynic might suggest that Raikkonen would have a little more to say if he had made more winner's speeches and sampled more podium champagne. After all, he has made 50 starts since his debut in Melbourne three years ago and has won only once.

In 2001 he showed outstanding promise with Sauber, notwithstanding a nasty little moment when the steering wheel came off in his hands at San Marino. With McLaren in 2002 the impetus of his progress was maintained and he finished sixth with 24 points.

Last year he emerged as the most likely successor to Schumacher. He had his maiden victory in Malaysia and finished second to the German overall, beaten by only two points even though his car was sometimes outclassed by the Ferrari.

Physically he looks ordinary. But the neck muscles and Popeye forearms bulge unusually for a 24-year-old. But is he quicker than Schumacher?

"So much depends on the car," he says. "But winning the championship takes all the bullshit out of it. Now, it's important to win the title many times to be called a great driver. But that first title is the most important of all."