Image photo	Hauptmarkt Trier.jpg
Wappen	Trier Rheinland-Palatinate Germany CoA.svg
Lat deg	49 | lat_min = 45 | lat_sec = 24
Lon deg	6 | lon_min = 38 | lon_sec = 29
Karte	Lage der kreisfreien Stadt Trier in Deutschland.PNG
Bundesland	Rheinland-Pfalz
Landkreis	Kreisfreie Stadt
Höhe	124
Fläche	117.14
Einwohner	103888
Stand	2006-12-31
Agglomeration	140460
Stand	2005
Plz	54290, 54292, 54293, 54294, 54295, 54296
Plz-alt	5500
Vorwahl	0651
Kfz	TR
Gemeindeschlüssel	07 2 11 000
Website	www.trier.de
Bürgermeister	Klaus Jensen
Partei	SPD
Bürgermeistertitel	Oberbürgermeister

Trier (; , ; ; ; the Latin adjective associated with Trier is Treverensis) is a city in Germany on the banks of the Moselle River. It is the oldest city in Germany, founded in or before 16 BC.

Trier lies in a valley between low vine-covered hills of ruddy sandstone in the west of the state of Rhineland-Palatinate, near the German border with Luxembourg and within the important Mosel wine-growing region.

Trier is the oldest seat of a Christian bishop north of the Alps. In the Middle Ages, the Archbishop of Trier was an important ecclesiastical prince, as the Archbishopric of Trier controlled land from the French border to the Rhine. He was also one of the seven electors of the Holy Roman Empire.

With an approximate population of 100,000 Trier was, until 2005, ranked fourth alongside Kaiserslautern among the state's largest cities; after Mainz, Ludwigshafen and Koblenz. The nearest large cities in Germany are Saarbrücken, some 80 km southeast, and Koblenz, about 100 km northeast. The closest city to Trier is the capital of Luxembourg, some 50 km to the southwest.

Trier is home to the University of Trier, the administration of the Trier-Saarburg district and the seat of the ADD (Aufsichts- und Dienstleistungsdirektion), which until 1999 was the borough authority of Trier. It is one of the five "central places" of the state of Rhineland-Palatinate. Along with Luxembourg, Metz and Saarbrücken, fellow constituent members of the QuattroPole union of cities, it also forms a central place of the greater region encompassing Saar-Lor-Lux (Saarland, Lorraine and Luxembourg), Rhineland-Palatinate and Wallonia.

History

According to the Gesta Treverorum, the city was founded by Trebeta, an Assyrian prince, centuries before ancient Rome. He was the son of Ninus, King of Assyria, by a wife prior to his marriage to Queen Semiramis. His stepmother, Semiramis, despised him and when she took over the kingdom after the death of his father, Ninus, Trebeta left Assyria and went to Europe. After wandering for a time, he led a group of colonizers to settle at Trier around 2000 BC in what is now Germany. Trebeta is also reputed to have been at Strasbourg, France. Upon his death, his body was cremated on Petrisberg by the people of Trier.

The Roman Empire subdued the Treveri in the 1st century BC and established Augusta Treverorum (Lit: August (Regal, noble) [City] of the Treveri) in 30 BC. The name is likely to be taken from the title Augustus held by the Princeps or head of state at the time, Augustus Caesar. The city later became the capital of the Roman province of Gallia Belgica, as well as the Roman prefecture of Gaul. It covered within its walls and may have had as many as 70,000 inhabitants. The Porta Nigra counts among the Roman architecture of the city. A residence of the Western Roman Emperor, Roman Trier was the birthplace of Saint Ambrose. Sometime between 395 and 418 the Roman administration moved the staff of Pretorian Prefecture from the city to Arles. The city continued to be inhabited, but was not as prosperous as before, because of the absence of 2,000 staff members of the Prefecture and military. However, the city remained the seat of a governor and had state factories for the production of ballistae, armor and wool mill for uniforms for the troops, clothing for the civil service and high quality garments for the Court. Northern Gaul was held by the Romans along a line from north of Cologne to the coast at Boulogne through what is today southern Belgium until 460. Below this line Roman control was firm as evidenced by the continuing operation of the imperial arms factory at Amiens.

The Franks seized Trier from Roman administration in 459 AD. In 870 it became part of Eastern Francia, which developed into the Holy Roman Empire. Relics of Saint Matthias brought to the city initiated widespread pilgrimages. The bishops of the city grew increasingly powerful, and the Archbishopric of Trier was recognized as an electorate of the empire, one of the most powerful states of Germany. The University of Trier was founded in the city in 1473.

In the 17th century, the Archbishops and Prince-Electors of Trier relocated their residences to Philippsburg Castle in Ehrenbreitstein, near Koblenz. A session of the Reichstag was held in Trier in 1512, during which the demarcation of the Imperial Circles was definitively established.

In the 17th and 18th centuries, Trier was sought after by France, who invaded during the Thirty Years' War, the War of the Grand Alliance, the War of the Spanish Succession, and the War of the Polish Succession. France succeeded in finally claiming Trier in 1794 during the French Revolutionary Wars, and the electoral archbishopric was dissolved. After the Napoleonic Wars ended in 1815, Trier passed to the Kingdom of Prussia. Karl Marx was born in the city in 1818.

As part of the Prussian Rhineland, Trier developed economically during the 19th century. The city rose in revolt during the revolutions of 1848 in the German states, although the rebels were forced to concede. It became part of the German Empire in 1871.

In June 1940 over 60,000 British prisoners of war, captured at Dunkirk and Northern France, were marched to Trier which became a staging-post for British soldiers headed for German POW camps. Trier was heavily bombed and bombarded in 1944 during World War II. The city became part of the new state of Rhineland-Palatinate after the war. The university, dissolved in 1797, was restarted in the 1970s, while the Cathedral of Trier was reopened in 1974. Trier officially celebrated its 2,000th anniversary in 1984.

Geography

Trier sits in a hollow midway along the Moselle valley, with the most significant portion of the city on the east bank of the river. Wooded and vineyard-covered slopes stretch up to the Hunsrück plateaux in the South and the Eifel in the North. The border with the Grand-Duchy of Luxembourg is some 15 km distant.

Neighbouring municipalities

Listed in clockwise order, beginning with the northernmost; all municipalities belong to the Trier-Saarburg district

Schweich, Kenn and Longuich (all part of the Verbandsgemeinde Schweich an der Römischen Weinstraße), Mertesdorf, Kasel, Waldrach, Morscheid, Korlingen, Gutweiler, Sommerau and Gusterath (all in the Verbandsgemeinde Ruwer), Hockweiler, Franzenheim (both part of the Verbandsgemeinde Trier-Land), Konz (Verbandsgemeinde Konz), Igel, Trierweiler, Aach, Newel, Kordel (Eifel), Zemmer (all in the Verbandsgemeinde Trier-Land)

Organisation of city districts

The Trier urban area is divided into 19 city districts. For each district there is an Ortsbeirat (local council) of between 9 and 15 members, as well as an Ortsvorsteher (local representative). The local councils are charged with hearing the important issues that affect the district, although the final decision on any issue rests with the city council. The local councils nevertheless have the freedom to undertake limited measures within the bounds of their districts and their budgets.

The districts of Trier with area and inhabitants (July 2007):

Main sights

Name	Roman Monuments,Cathedral of St. Peterand Church of Our Lady in Trier
Imagecaption	Roman bath ruins in Trier.|
State party	Germany
Type	Cultural
Criteria	i, iii, iv, vi
Id	367
Region	Europe and North America
Year	1986
Session	10th
Link	http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/367

Trier is well known for its well-preserved Roman and medieval buildings, which include:

the Porta Nigra, the best preserved Roman city gate north of the Alps;

ruins of three Roman baths, among them the largest Roman baths north of the Alps;

the huge Constantine Basilica, a basilica in the original Roman sense, being the long throne hall of Roman Emperor Constantine; it is today used as a Protestant church. the Trier Cathedral ( or Dom St. Peter), a Roman Catholic church which dates back to Roman times and is home to the Holy Tunic, a garment with a recorded history back to the 12th century, in Catholic tradition said to be the robe Jesus was wearing when he died. It is only exhibited every few decades, at irregular intervals.

The Liebfrauenkirche (German for Church of Our Lady), which is one of the most important early Gothic cathedrals in Germany and falls into the architectural tradition of the French Gothic cathedrals;

the Roman amphitheatre;

the 2nd century AD Roman bridge (Römerbrücke) across the Moselle River, the oldest bridge north of the Alps still crossed by traffic;

St. Matthias' Abbey (Abtei St. Matthias), a still-in-use monastery in whose medieval church the only apostle north of the Alps is held to be buried

St. Gangolf Church was the city's market church that rivalled the Archbishop's Trier Cathedral.

Saint Paulin Church, one of the most important Baroque churches in Rhineland-Palatinate and designed in part by the architect Balthasar Neumann

two old treadwheel cranes, one being the Gothic "Old Crane" (Alte Krahnen) or "Trier Moselle Crane" (Trierer Moselkrahn) from 1413, and the other the 1774 Baroque crane called the "(Old) Customs Crane" ((Alter) Zollkran) or "Younger Moselle Crane" (Jüngerer Moselkran) (see List of historical harbour cranes)

The old Jewish cemetery (DE) (Weidegasse)

Museums

Rheinisches Landesmuseum (one of the two most important German archaeological museums for the Roman period, along with the Römisch-Germanisches Museum in Cologne)

Stadtmuseum Simeonstift (history of Trier, displaying among other exhibits a model of the medieval city)

Bischöfliches Dom- und Diözesanmuseum (Museum of the Diocese of Trier, displays also numerous Roman artefacts)

Toy Museum of Trier

Ethnological and open air museum Roscheider Hof, a museum in the neighboring town of Konz, right at the city limits of Trier, which shows the history of rural culture in the northwest Rhineland Palatinate and in the area where Germany, Luxembourg and Lorraine meet.

Fell Exhibition Slate Mine; site in the municipality of Fell, 20 kilometers from Trier, containing an underground mine, a mine museum, and a slate mining trail.

Karl Marx House; a museum exhibiting Marx's personal history, volumes of poetry, original letters, and photographs with personal dedications. There's also a collection of rare first editions and international editions of his works, as well as exhibits on the development of socialism in the 19th century.

Education

Trier is home to the University of Trier, founded in 1473, closed in 1796 and restarted in 1970. The city also has the Trier University of Applied Sciences. In 2010 there were about 40 Kindergärten, 25 primary schools and 23 secondary schools in Trier, such as the Humboldt Gymnasium Trier, Max Planck Gymnasium and the Pestalozzi-Hauptschule.

Annual events

Every summer Trier hosts Germany's biggest Roman festival, Brot und Spiele (German for Bread and Games).

Trier has been the base for the German round of the World Rally Championship since 2000, with the rally's presentation held next to the Porta Nigra.

Trier holds a lavish Christmas street festival every year called the Trier Christmas Market on the Hauptmarkt (Main Market Square) and the Domfreihof in front of the Cathedral of Trier.

Transportation

Trier station has direct railway connections to many cities. The nearest cities by train are Cologne, Saarbrücken and Luxembourg. Via the motorways A 1, A 48 and A 64 Trier is linked with Koblenz, Saarbrücken and Luxembourg. The nearest commercial (international) airports are in Luxembourg (0:40 h by car), Frankfurt-Hahn (1:00 h), Saarbrücken (1:00 h), Frankfurt (2:00 h) and Cologne/Bonn (2:00 h). The Moselle River is an important waterway and is also used for river cruises.

Sports

Major sports clubs in Trier include:

FSV Trier-Tarforst, intera alia football and rugby

SV Eintracht Trier 05, association football

TBB Trier, basketball

DJK/MJC Trier, women's team handball

Trier Cardinals, baseball

PST Trier Stampers, American Football

SG Turm Trier, chess

Renn Center Trier, Slotcar

Notable residents

see Heinz Monz: Trierer Biographisches Lexikon. Landesarchivverwaltung Rheinland-Pfalz, Koblenz 2000. 539 p. ISBN 3931014495.

Eucharius (died ~250), first bishop of Trier

Valerius (†320), second bishop of Trier

Helena (ca. 250-330), saint, mother of Constantine the Great

Paulinus (†358), bishop of Trier

Ausonius (ca. 310–395), roman consul and poet

Ambrose (ca. 340–397), saint

Kaspar Olevianus (1536–1587), theologian

Karl Marx (1818–1883), social philosopher

Frederick A. Schroeder (1833–1899), American politician, mayor of Brooklyn

Ludwig Kaas (1881–1952), Roman Catholic priest and politician of the Zentrum

Oswald von Nell-Breuning (1890–1991), theologian

Wolf Graf von Baudissin (1907–1993), general, military planner and peace researcher

Xavier Bout de Marnhac (born 1951), French general, former commander of KFOR

Ernst Ulrich Deuker (born 1954), musician of Ideal

Guildo Horn (born 1963), singer

Eric Jelen (born 1965), tennis player

Martin Bambauer (born 1970), church musician

Josephine Henning (born 1989), footballer

International relations

Trier is twinned with: Metz, France since 1957 Gloucester, United Kingdom, since 1957 Ascoli Piceno, Italy, since 1958 's-Hertogenbosch, Netherlands, since 1968 Pula, Croatia, since 1971 Fort Worth, Texas, USA since 1987 Weimar, Germany since 1990 Nagaoka, Japan, since 2006 Xiamen, China, since 2010

Namesakes

New Trier Township, USA. originally settled by people from Trier. New Trier, USA settled by people from Trier circa 1856.

Gallery

References

External links

Official website

Hotels in Trier

Category:16 BC establishments Category:Cities in Rhineland-Palatinate Category:Landmarks in Germany Category:Roman towns and cities in Germany Category:World Heritage Sites in Germany Category:Historic Jewish communities

Name	Lars von Trier
Caption	Lars von Trier at Cannes in 2000
Birth name	Lars Trier
Birth date	April 30, 1956
Birth place	Kongens Lyngby, Denmark
Occupation	Film director and screenwriter
Spouse	Cæcilia Holbek (1987-95)Bente Frøge (1997-)

Lars von Trier (; born Lars Trier; 30 April 1956) is a Danish film director and screenwriter. He is closely associated with the Dogme 95 collective, although his own films have taken a variety of different approaches. He is known for his female-centric parables and his exploration of controversial subject matter. Von Trier began making his own films at the age of 11 after receiving a Super-8 camera as a gift, and his first publicly released film was an experimental short called The Orchid Gardener, in 1977. His first feature film came seven years later, The Element of Crime, in 1984. As of 2010, he has directed a further 9 feature films, 5 short films and 4 Television productions. Von Trier suffers periodically from depression, as well as various fears and phobias, including an intense fear of flying. As he himself once put it, "Basically, I'm afraid of everything in life, except filmmaking".

Early life and career

Lars Trier was born in Kongens Lyngby, north of Copenhagen, the son of Inger Trier (née Høst). He had believed that his biological father was Ulf Trier, but his mother revealed to him on her deathbed that he had been conceived as a result of an affair she had with her employer, Fritz Michael Hartmann. His parents considered themselves both communists and committed nudists, with complex results for von Trier's personality and development. The young Lars found in cinema an outlet to the outside world through which he could learn about subjects otherwise forbidden from his study by his parents. He began making his own films at the age of 11 after receiving a Super-8 camera as a gift and continued to be involved in independent moviemaking throughout his high school years. His peers at the film school nicknamed him "von Trier". The name is sort of an inside-joke with the von (German "of" or "from" used as a nobiliary particle), suggesting nobility, while Lars is a very common and Trier not an unusual name in Denmark. He reportedly kept the "von" name in homage to Erich von Stroheim and Josef von Sternberg, both of whom also added it later in life. During his time as a student at the school he made the films Nocturne (1980) and The Last Detail (Den sidste detalje, 1981), both of which won Best Film awards at the Munich International Festival of Film Schools, and he graduated with Images of a Relief (Befrielsesbilleder, 1982) in 1983.

Europe trilogy

After graduation he began work on the Europe trilogy, which started with a cerebral serial killer drama, The Element of Crime (Forbrydelsens element 1984). The film, which won a technical award at the Cannes Film Festival, was extremely stylized and marked a radical departure from normal Danish cinema.

This film was followed by Epidemic (1987), which was also shown as part of the official programme at Cannes. The film is partly a dark science fiction-tale of a future plague epidemic, and partly chronicles two filmmakers (played by Lars von Trier and screenwriter Niels Vørsel) preparing that film, with the two storylines ultimately colliding.

For television von Trier directed Medea (1988), which won the Jean d'Arcy prize in France. It was based on a screenplay by Carl Th. Dreyer and starred Udo Kier.

He completed the Europe-trilogy in 1991 with Europa (released as Zentropa in the U.S.), which won the Prix du Jury at the 1991 Cannes Film Festival and picked up awards at other major festivals.

In 1990 he also directed the music video for the worldwide hit "Bakerman" by Laid Back. This video was reused in 2006 by the English DJ and artist Shaun Baker who did a remake of Bakerman.

Zentropa and The Kingdom

In 1992 he co-founded together with producer Peter Aalbæk Jensen the movie production company Zentropa Entertainment, named after a train company in Europa, their most recent film at the time. he made The Kingdom (Riget, 1994) and The Kingdom II (Riget II, 1997), a pair of miniseries recorded in the Danish national hospital, the name "Riget" being a colloquial name for the hospital known as Rigshospitalet (lit. The Kingdom's Hospital) in Danish. A projected third installment in the series has been derailed due to the death of Ernst-Hugo Järegård, who played Helmer, one of the major characters.

Dogme 95

In 1995, Lars von Trier and Thomas Vinterberg presented their manifesto for a new cinematic movement which they called Dogme 95. It would however take a while before the first of these films appeared, and at this point many thought of the concept mainly as a radical idea with no future.

Von Trier's next film, Breaking the Waves (1996) which won the Grand Prix at Cannes, features Emily Watson, who was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress. Its grainy images and hand-held photography pointed towards Dogme95. Breaking the Waves is the first film in von Trier's 'Golden Heart Trilogy' which also includes The Idiots (1998) and Dancer in the Dark (2000).

Also in 1996, von Trier conducted an unusual theatrical experiment in Copenhagen involving 53 actors, which he titled Psychomobile 1: The World Clock. A documentary chronicling the project was directed by Jesper Jargil, and was released in 2000 with the title De Udstillede (The Exhibited).

Lars von Trier made his own contribution to the Dogme 95 movement with The Idiots (Idioterne, 1998), and even overcame his dislike of traveling to present it in person at the Cannes Film Festival, where it was nominated for a Palme d'Or.

As originator of the Dogme 95 concept, which has led to international interest in Danish film as a whole, he has inspired filmmakers all over the world. Trier and Thomas Vinterberg, who created the Dogme 95 Manifesto and the "Vow of Chastity" together with their fellow Dogme directors Kristian Levring and Søren Kragh-Jacobsen shared in 2008 the European Film Award European Achievement in World Cinema.

Explicit images

Von Trier's use of sexually explicit images in The Idiots (1998) started a wave of arthouse mainstream films with unsimulated sex, such as Catherine Breillat's Romance (1999), Baise-Moi (2000), Intimacy (2001), Vincent Gallo's The Brown Bunny (2003) and Michael Winterbottom's 9 Songs (2004).

In 1998, Lars von Trier also made history by having his company Zentropa be the world's first mainstream film company to produce hardcore pornographic films. Three of these films, Constance (1998), Pink Prison (1999) and the adult/mainstream crossover-feature All About Anna (2005), were made primarily for a female audience, and were extremely successful in Europe, with the first two being directly responsible for the March 2006 legalizing of pornography in Norway.

Lars von Trier's initiative spearheaded a European wave of female-friendly porn films from directors such as Anna Span, Erika Lust and Petra Joy, while von Trier's company Zentropa was forced to abandon the experiment due to pressure from English business partners. In July 2009, women's magazine Cosmopolitan ranked Pink Prison as #1 in its Top Five of the best women’s porn, calling it the "role model for the new porn-generation". Lars von Trier would return to explicit images in his self-directed Antichrist (2009), exploring darker themes.

2000s

In 2000, von Trier premiered a musical featuring Icelandic musician Björk, Dancer in the Dark. The film won the Palme d'Or at Cannes. The song "I've Seen It All" (which Trier co-wrote) received an Academy Award nomination for Best Song.

The Five Obstructions (2003), made by Lars von Trier and Jørgen Leth, is a documentary, but also incorporates lengthy sections of experimental films. The premise is that Lars von Trier challenges director Jørgen Leth, his friend and mentor, to remake his old experimental film The Perfect Human (1967) five times, each time with a different 'obstruction' (or obstacle) specified by von Trier.

He then directed two films in his announced 'U.S. trilogy': Dogville (2003), starring Nicole Kidman as gangster daughter Grace, and Manderlay (2005), starring Bryce Dallas Howard in the same role. Both films are extremely stylized, with the actors playing their parts on a nearly empty soundstage with little but chalk marks on the floor to indicate the sets. Both films had huge casts of major international actors (Harriet Andersson, Lauren Bacall, James Caan, Danny Glover, Willem Dafoe, etc.), and questioned various issues relating to American society, such as intolerance in Dogville and slavery in Manderlay.

Controversy erupted on the 2004 set for Manderlay when actor John C. Reilly walked off the Trollhättan, Sweden, set in late March. Reilly walked off the film when he learned that an upcoming scene involved the slaughter of a donkey for food. The film's producer says the animal—who was old and not expected to live much longer—was killed off camera by a certified veterinarian, in accordance with Swedish law. Reilly was replaced by Zeljko Ivanek.

The U.S. was also the scene for Dear Wendy (2005), a feature film directed by von Trier's "Dogme-brother" Thomas Vinterberg from a script by von Trier. It starred Jamie Bell and Bill Pullman and dealt with gun worship. Both Manderlay and Dear Wendy failed to attract much of an audience, and were along with other simultaneous flops from important local directors perceived as confirmation of a creative crisis in Danish cinema.

In 2006, von Trier released a Danish-language comedy film, The Boss of it All. It was shot using a process that von Trier has called Automavision, which involves the director choosing the best possible fixed camera position and then allowing a computer to randomly choose when to tilt, pan or zoom.

It was followed by an autobiographical film, (2007), scripted by von Trier but directed by Jacob Thuesen, which tells the story of von Trier's years as a student at the National Film School of Denmark. It stars Jonatan Spang as von Trier's alter ego, called "Erik Nietzsche", and is narrated by von Trier himself. All main characters in the film are based on real people from the Danish film industry, with the thinly veiled portrayals including Jens Albinus as director Nils Malmros, Dejan Cukic as screenwriter Mogens Rukov and Søren Pilmark in an especially unflattering portrayal as sex-obsessed school principal Henning Camre.

Lars von Trier's latest feature film is a horror movie, Antichrist, about "a grieving couple who retreat to their cabin in the woods, hoping a return to Eden will repair their broken hearts and troubled marriage; but nature takes its course and things go from bad to worse". The film, which has sexually explicit content, stars Willem Dafoe and Charlotte Gainsbourg. It premiered in competition at the 2009 Cannes Film Festival, where the festival's jury honoured the movie by giving the Best Actress award to Gainsbourg. The Cannes Film Festival ecumenical jury, which gives prizes for movies that promote spiritual, humanist and universal values, also "honoured" the film with a special "anti-award", given to the film for its alleged misogynist content. The film production company Zentropa is reportedly making more revenues from suing net pirates in Germany that have downloaded the movie illegally than from box office and DVD sales, demanding a payment of around 1,300 euros per download to avoid legal action. The new Von Trier business model is a new and innovative revenue opportunity for the movie industry.

Von Trier's next work is Melancholia, a psychological disaster drama; the budget for the movie is €5 million ($7 million) and is set for a European shoot in 2010. On February 8, the Danish newspaper Politiken announced that Spanish actress Penélope Cruz would do a role for Melancholia but it was Kirsten Dunst who was finally chosen.

Phobias

Von Trier suffers from multiple phobias, including an intense fear of flying. His fear of air travel frequently places severely limiting constraints on him and his crew, necessitating that virtually all of his films be shot in either Denmark or Sweden, even those set in the United States or other foreign countries. Von Trier has had a number of his films featured at the Cannes Film Festival over the course of his career, and each time has insisted on driving from Denmark to France for the festival and back.

On numerous occasions von Trier has also stated that he suffers from occasional depression which renders him incapable of performing his work and unable to uphold social relations.

Filming techniques

Lars von Trier has said that "a film should be like a stone in your shoe". In order to create original art he feels that filmmakers must distinguish themselves stylistically from other films, often by placing restrictions on the filmmaking process. The most famous restriction is the cinematic "vow of chastity" of the Dogme95 movement with which he is associated, though only one of his films, The Idiots, is an actual Dogme 95 film. In Dancer in the Dark, jump shots and dramatically-different color palettes and camera techniques were used for the "real world" and musical portions of the film, and in Dogville everything was filmed on a sound stage with no set where the walls of the buildings in the fictional town were marked as a line on the floor.

Von Trier often shoots digitally and operates the camera himself, preferring to continuously shoot the actors in-character without stopping between takes. In Dogville he let actors stay in character for hours, in the style of method acting. These techniques often put great strain on actors, most famously with Björk during the filming of Dancer in the Dark. Often he uses the same regular group of actors in many of his films: some of his frequently used actors are Jean-Marc Barr, Udo Kier and Stellan Skarsgård.

He is heavily influenced by the work of Carl Theodor Dreyer and the film The Night Porter. He was so inspired by the short film The Perfect Human directed by Jørgen Leth that he challenged Leth to redo the short five times in feature film The Five Obstructions.

Trilogies

Von Trier has on occasion referred to his films as falling into thematic and stylistic trilogies. This pattern began with his first feature film, marking the beginning of The Europa Trilogy, though he claims a trilogy was not initially planned, instead being applied to the films in retrospect. The Europe trilogy illuminated the traumas of Europe in the past and future. This trilogy includes The Element of Crime (1984), Epidemic (1988) and Europa (1991).

The Golden Heart trilogy was about naive heroines who maintain their 'golden hearts' despite the tragedies they experience. This trilogy includes Breaking the Waves (1996), The Idiots (1998) and Dancer in the Dark (2000). While all three films are sometimes associated with the Dogme 95 movement, only The Idiots is a certified Dogme 95 film.

The USA: Land of Opportunities trilogy follows the character of Grace, and is set in a stylized American past. Von Trier has stated he was inspired to make a trilogy about the United States as a reaction to Americans at the Cannes film festival who said he had no right to make the Dancer in the Dark, who descended from a long line of Roman Catholic classical musicians, in order to give her son "artistic genes".

Until that point I thought I had a Jewish background. But I'm really more of a Nazi. I believe that my biological father's German family went back two further generations. Before she died, my mother told me to be happy that I was the son of this other man. She said my foster father had had no goals and no strength. But he was a loving man. And I was very sad about this revelation. And you then feel manipulated when you really do turn out to be creative. If I'd known that my mother had this plan, I would have become something else. I would have shown her. The slut!

After four awkward meetings with his biological father, the man refused further contact. The revelations led von Trier to attempt to "erase" the connections with his stepfather by converting to Catholicism, and to rework his filmmaking into a style emphasizing "honesty". |- | 1979 || Menthe: La bienheureuse || Menthe: La bienheureuse || 31', 16mm, B/W Award for Best Film |- | 1981 || The Last Detail || Den sidste detalje || 31', 16mm, B/W |- | 1991 || Europa || Europa || 3^rd film in the Europa trilogy Won 1992 Bodil Award for Best Film Won 1991 Cannes Film Festival Jury Prize Won 1991 Cannes Film Festival Best Artistic Contribution Won 1991 Cannes Film Festival Technical Grand Prize Won 1992 Fantasporto International Fantasy Film Award for Best Director Won 1991 Ghent International Film Festival Grand Prix Won 1992 Robert Award in 7 categories: for Best Cinematography, Best Editing, Best Film, Best Original Score, Best Production Design, Best Sound and for Best Special Effects Won 1992 Sitges - Catalonian International Film Festival for Best Film and for Best Cinematography Won 1991 Stockholm Film Festival Bronze Horse Won 1991 Vulcain Prize Technical Grand Prize Nominated 1991 Cannes Film Festival Palme d'Or Nominated 1992 European Film Award for Best Actress and for Best Supporting Actor Nominated 1992 Fantasporto International Fantasy Film Award for Best Film |- | 1994 || The Kingdom I || Riget || TV miniseries Won 1996 Adolf Grimme Award Won 1995 Bodil Award for Best Film Won 1995 Bodil Award for Best Actor: Ernst-Hugo Järegård Won 1995 Bodil Award for Best Actress: Kirsten Rolffes Won 1995 Bodil Award for Best Supporting Actor: Holger Juul Hansen Won 1995 Honary Bodil Award: Niels Vørsel Won 1996 Golden Cable (Germany) Bronze Cable for Innovation Won 1995 Karlovy Vary International Film Festival Best Actor Award: Ernst-Hugo Järegård Won 1995 Karlovy Vary International Film Festival Best Director Award Won 1995 Robert Award in 6 categories: for Best Actor, Best Actress, Best Cinematography, Best Original Score, Best Screenplay, and for Best Sound Won 1995 Seattle International Film Festival Golden Space Needle Award for Best Film Nominated 1995 Karlovy Vary International Film Festival Crystal Globe |- | 1996 || Breaking the Waves || Breaking the Waves || 1^st film in the Golden Heart trilogy Won 1996 Amanda Award for Best Nordic Feature Film Won 1999 Art Film Festival IGRIC Award for Best Foreign Film Won 1997 Bodil Award for Best Film Won 1997 Bodil Award for Best Actress: Emily Watson Won 1997 Bodil Award for Best Supporting Actress: Katrin Cartlidge Won 1996 Cannes Film Festival Grand Prix Won 1998 Czech Lion for Best Foreign Language Film Won 1997 César Award for Best Foreign Film Won 1996 European Film Award for Best Film Won 1996 European Film Award for Best Actress: Emily Watson Won 1996 European Film Award FIPRESCI Prize Won 1996 Evening Standard British Film Award for Most Promising Newcomer: Emily Watson Won 1997 Ft. Lauderdale International Film Festival President Award for Best Director Won 1997 Ft. Lauderdale International Film Festival President Award for Best Actress: Emily Watson Won 1997 Fotogramas de Plata for Best Foreign Film Won 1996 London Film Critics' Circle ALFS Award for British Newcomer of the Year: Emily Watson Won 1996 Los Angeles Film Critics Association New Generation Award: Emily Watson Won 1996 Lübeck Nordic Film Days Baltic Film Prize for a Nordic Feature Film Won 1996 Lübeck Nordic Film Days Prize of the Ecumenical Jury Won 1996 National Society of Film Critics NSFC Award in 4 categories: for Best Film, Best Actress, Best Cinematography and for Best Director Won 1996 New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actress: Emily Watson Won 1996 New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Cinematographer: Robby Müller Won 1996 New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Director Won 1997 Robert Award in 9 categories: for Best Film, Best Screenplay, Best Actress, Best Cinematography, Best Editing, Best Make-Up, Best Production Design, Best Sound, and for Best Supporting Actress Won 1996 Satellite Awards Golden Satellite Award for Best Motion Picture - Foreign Language Won 1996 Stockholm Film Festival FIPRESCI Prize in the Northern Lights Section Won 1997 Swedish Film Institute Guldbagge Award for Best Foreign Film Won 1997 Uruguay International Film Festival award for Best Film Won 1996 Vancouver International Film Festival award for Most Popular Film Nominated 1996 Academy Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role: Emily Watson Nominated 1997 Australian Film Institute AFI Award for Best Foreign Film Nominated 1997 British Academy of Film and Television Arts Award for Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role: Emily Watson Nominated 1996 Camerimage Golden Frog Nominated 1996 Cannes Film Festival Palme d'Or Nominated 1997 Chlotrudis Awards for Best Actress: Emily Watson Nominated 1997 Golden Globe Award for Best Motion Picture - Drama and for Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture - Drama Nominated 1997 Goya Award for Best European Film Nominated 1997 Independent Spirit Award for Best Foreign Film Nominated 1996 London Film Critics' Circle ALFS Award for British Actress of the Year: Emily Watson Nominated 1996 Satellite Awards Golden Satelvillite Award in 3 categories: for Best Director of a Motion Picture, Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture - Drama, and for Outstanding Cinematography |- | 1997 || The Kingdom II || Riget II || TV miniseries Won 1998 Bodil Award for Best Actor and for Best Supporting Actress Won 1999 Fantasporto International Fantasy Film Award for Best Director Won 1999 Fantasporto International Fantasy Film Award for Best Screenplay Nominated 1999 Fantasporto International Fantasy Film Award for Best Film |- | 1998 || The Idiots || Idioterne || 2^nd film in the Golden Heart trilogy2^nd film under the Dogme '95 Manifesto Won 1999 Bodil Award in 3 categories: for Best Actress, Best Supporting Actor and for Best Supporting Actress Won 1998 London Film Festival FIPRESCI Prize Won 1999 Robert Award for Best Actress: Bodil Jørgensen Nominated 1999 Bodil Award for Best Film Nominated 1998 Cannes Film Festival Palme d'Or Nominated 1998 European Film Award for Best Screenwriter Nominated 1998 Valladolid International Film Festival Golden Spike |- | 2000 || Dancer in the Dark || Dancer in the Dark || 3^rd film in the Golden Heart trilogyWon 2001 Blue Ribbon Award for Best Foreign Language Film Won 2001 Bodil Award for Best Actress: Björk Won 2000 Cannes Film Festival Palme d'Or Won 2000 Cannes Film Festival Best Actress: Björk Won 2000 European Film Award for Best Film Won 2000 European Film Award for Best Actress: Björk Won 2000 European Film Award Audience Award for Best Director Won 2000 European Film Award Audience Award for Best Actress: Björk Won 2001 Japanese Academy Award for Best Foreign Film Won 2000 Edda Awards for Actress of the Year: Björk Won 2001 Goya Award for Best European Film Won 2001 Independent Spirit Award for Best Foreign Film Won 2000 National Board of Review NBR Award Outstanding Dramatic Musical Performance by an Actress: Björk Won 2000 Online Film Critics Society Award for Best Cinematic Debut/Breakthrough: Björk Won 2001 Robert Award in 5 categories: for Best Actress, Best Original Score, Best Editing, Best Production Design and for Best Sound Won 2001 Russian Guild of Film Critics Golden Aries for Best Foreign Actress: Björk Won 2000 Satellite Awards Golden Satellite Award for Best Original Song Won 2001 Turia Awards Audience Award for Best Foreign Film Nominated 2001 Academy Award for Original Song ("I've Seen It All"): Björk (composer) & Lars von Trier (lyricist) Nominated 2001 Bodil Award for Best Film Nominated 2001 Brit Award for Best Soundtrack Nominated 2000 Camerimage Golden Frog Nominated 2001 César Award for Best Foreign Film Nominated 2001 Chicago Film Critics Association CFCA Award for Best Actress: Björk Nominated 2001 Chicago Film Critics Association CFCA Award for Best Original Score Nominated 2000 Chlotrudis Awards in 5 categories: for Best Actress, Best Director, Best Film, Best Supporting Actor and for Best Supporting Actress Nominated 2001 Cinema Writers Circle Awards CEC Award for Best Foreign Film Nominated 2001 Golden Globe Award for Best Original Song - Motion Picture Nominated 2001 Golden Globe Award for Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture - Drama: Björk Nominated 2001 Golden Trailer Award for Best Music Nominated 2000 Las Vegas Film Critics Society Sierra Award for Best Actress: Björk Nominated 2000 Las Vegas Film Critics Society Sierra Award for Best Female Newcomer: Björk Nominated 2000 Motion Picture Sound Editors Golden Reel Award for Best Sound Editing - Music - Musical Feature (Foreign & Domestic) Nominated 2000 Online Film Critics Society Awards in 5 categories: for Best Actress, Best Director, Best Film, Best Film Editing and for Best Original Score Nominated 2001 Phoenix Film Critics Society Awards for Best Original Song Nominated 2001 Robert Award in 6 categories: for Best Director, Best Cinematography, Best Costume Design, Best Film, Best Make-Up and for Best Supporting Actress Nominated 2000 Satellite Awards in 3 categories: for Best Motion Picture, Drama, for Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture, Drama and for Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role, Drama |- | 2000 || D-Dag || D-Dag || TelefilmSegment: Lise |- | 2003 || Dogville || Dogville || 1^st film in the USA - Land of Opportunities trilogy Won 2004 Bodil Award for Best Film Won 2005 Cinema Brazil Grand Prize for Best Foreign Film Won 2004 Cinema Writers Circle Awards CEC Award for Best Foreign Film Won 2003 Copenhagen International Film Festival Honorary Award Won 2004 David di Donatello Awards for Best European Film Won 2003 European Film Award for Best Cinematographer: Anthony Dod Mantle Won 2003 European Film Award for Best Director Won 2004 Guild of German Art House Cinemas (Gilde-Filmpreis) Guild Film Silver Award for Foreign Film Won 2003 Palm Dog Award for "Moses" Won 2004 Robert Award for Best Costume Design Won 2004 Robert Award for Best Screenplay: Lars von Trier Won 2003 Russian Guild of Film Critics Golden Aries for Best Foreign Actress: Nicole Kidman Won 2003 Russian Guild of Film Critics Golden Aries for Best Foreign Film Won 2004 Sofia International Film Festival Audience Award for Best Film Nominated 2004 Bodil Award for Best Actress Nominated 2004 Bodil Award for Best Supporting Actor Nominated 2003 Cannes Film Festival Palme d'Or Nominated 2005 Chlotrudis Awards for Best Cast Nominated 2005 Chlotrudis Awards for Best Screenplay - Original Nominated 2004 César Award for Best European Union Film Nominated 2003 European Film Award Audience Award for Best Director Nominated 2003 European Film Award Audience Award for Best Film Nominated 2003 European Film Award Audience Award for Best Screenwriter Nominated 2005 Golden Trailer Award for Best Independent Nominated 2004 Goya Award for Best European Film Nominated 2004 Italian National Syndicate of Film Journalists Silver Ribbon for Best Director of Foreign Film Nominated 2004 Robert Award in 6 categories: for Best Cinematography, Best Director, Best Editing, Best Film, Best Production Design, and for Best Supporting Actor Nominated 2004 Swedish Film Institute Guldbagge Award for Best Foreign Film |- | 2003 || The Five Obstructions || De fem benspænd || Experimental documentary co-directed with Jørgen Leth Won 2004 Motovun Film Festival FIPRESCI Prize Nominated 2003 Copenhagen International Documentary Festival CPH:DOX Award Nominated 2004 European Film Awards Best Documentary Award |- | 2005 || Manderlay || Manderlay || 2^nd film in the USA - Land of Opportunities trilogy Won 2005 Valladolid International Film Festival 50th Anniversary Prize Nominated 2006 Bodil Award for Best Film Nominated 2006 Cannes Film Festival Palme d'Or Nominated 2005 European Film Award in 3 categories: for Best Cinematographer, Best Composer and for Best Production Designer Nominated 2006 Robert Award in 9 categories: for Best Actress, Best Cinematography, Best Costume Design, Best Director, Best Film, Best Production Design, Best Original Screenplay, Best Sound and for Best Special Effects/Lighting Nominated 2005 Valladolid International Film Festival Golden Spike |- | 2006 || The Boss of It All || Direktøren for det hele || Nominated 2007 Robert Award for Best Original Screenplay: Lars von Trier |- | 2007 || To Each His Own Cinema || Chacun son cinéma || Segment: Occupations |- | 2009 || Antichrist || Antichrist ||Won 2010 Bodil Award for Best Film Won 2010 Bodil Award for Best Actress: Charlotte Gainsbourg Won 2010 Bodil Award for Best Actor: Willem Dafoe Won 2010 Bodil Award for Best Director of Photography: Anthony Dod Mantle Won 2010 Special Bodil Award for sound design: Kristian Eidnes Andersen Won 2009 Cannes Film Festival Best Actress: Charlotte Gainsbourg Won 2009 European Film Award for Best Cinematographer: Anthony Dod Mantle Won 2009 Neuchâtel International Fantastic Film Festival Titra Film Award Won 2009 Nordic Council Film Prize Won 2010 Robert Award for Best Film Won 2010 Robert Award for Best Director Won 2010 Robert Award for Best Cinematographer: Anthony Dod Mantle Won 2010 Robert Award for Best Editor: Anders Refn Won 2010 Robert Award for Best Screenplay: Lars von Trier Won 2010 Robert Award for Best Sound: Kristian Eidnes Andersen Won 2010 Robert Award for Best Special Effects: Peter Hjorth Won 2010 Sant Jordi Awards for Best Foreign Actress: Charlotte Gainsbourg Nominated 2009 Cannes Film Festival Palme d'Or Nominated 2009 Palm Dog Award for Talking Fox Nominated 2010 Chlotrudis Awards for Best Actress and for Best Cinematography Nominated 2009 European Film Award for Best Actress and for Best Director Nominated 2010 Robert Award in 5 categories: for Best Actor, Best Actress, Best Costume Design, Best Make-Up and for Best Production Design Nominated 2010 Zulu Awards for Best Film |- | 2010 || Dimension || Dimension || Short film (27 minutes)Abandoned feature film project filmed 1991-97 |- | 2011 || Melancholia || Melancholia || Expected to premiere in May 2011 |- |}

References

Notes

Further reading

Tiefenbach, Georg: Drama und Regie (Writing and Directing): Lars von Trier's Breaking the Waves, Dancer in the Dark, Dogville. 2010 Königshausen & Neumann. ISBN 9783826040962

External links

Lars from 1–10

Production Company

The Director Interviews: Lars von Trier, The Boss of It All at Filmmaker Magazine

Senses of Cinema: Great Directors Critical Database

'I'm a control freak: but I was not in control'

Slave to cinema

The Age Interview

Timeout Interview

Category:1956 births Category:European Film Awards winners (people) Category:Converts to Roman Catholicism from atheism or agnosticism Category:Danish film directors Category:Danish Roman Catholics Category:Danish screenwriters Category:Experimental filmmakers Category:Living people Category:People from Copenhagen

Name	Kimi Räikkönen
Caption	Räikkönen at the 2010 Rally Bulgaria
Nationality
Years	2009–present
Teams	ICE 1 Racing
Races	13
Championships	0
Wins	0
Podiums	0
Stagewins	1
Points	25
First race	2009 Rally Finland
Last race	2010 Rally GB

Kimi-Matias Räikkönen (; born 17 October 1979 in Espoo), nicknamed Iceman, and occasionally described as "the fastest driver on the planet", is a Finnish World Rally Championship and former Formula One driver. After nine seasons racing in Formula One, in which he took the Formula One World Drivers' Championship, he now competes in the World Rally Championship for the ICE 1 Racing.

Räikkönen entered Formula One as a regular driver for Sauber-Petronas in . Having previously only raced in very junior open-wheel categories, he was given his Super Licence from the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA) after a performance delivery promise by his team boss, Peter Sauber. He joined McLaren Mercedes in , and became a title contender by finishing runner-up in the and championships to Michael Schumacher and Fernando Alonso, respectively. Räikkönen's 2003 and 2005 seasons were plagued by severe unreliability from his McLaren car, resulting in many pundits speculating that without the problems, he would have already been World Champion.

Switching to Ferrari in 2007, Räikkönen became the highest paid driver in motor sport with an estimated wage of $51 million per year. In turn his move to Ferrari saw him secure his first Formula One World Drivers' Championship, beating McLaren drivers Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso by one point, as well as becoming one of the very few drivers to win in their first season at Ferrari. After two more years in the sport, he left the Ferrari F1 team to drive a Citroën C4 for the Citroën Junior Team in the World Rally Championship for 2010.

Räikkönen is known to be very relaxed, calm, cool, and calculating in his everyday life as well as in his racing career—prompting the nickname "Iceman", which Räikkönen has tattooed on the underside of his left forearm and which is also subtly written on the side of his current helmet design. His other nicknames include Kimppa, Räikkä and Kimster (used by his mechanics).

In , Räikkönen was among the two Formula One drivers who made it into the Forbes magazine's The Celebrity 100 list, the other being Fernando Alonso. He is 36th on Forbes magazine's The Celebrity 100 list of 2008, and 41st on the previous year. On the same list, as of 2008, he is listed as the 26th highest paid celebrity overall and the 5th highest paid sportsman behind Tiger Woods, David Beckham, Michael Jordan and Phil Mickelson. In , Räikkönen was listed as the equal 2nd highest paid athlete in the world, behind Woods.

Career

Early career (until 2000)

Räikkönen had a long line of success in karting from the age of ten. His first race outside Finland was in Monaco when he was 15 years old. During the race, the steering wheel broke, but he continued, informing his mechanic by frantically waving the steering wheel in the air on the home straight. Räikkönen's next Monaco race was also memorable; he was thrown on the wrong side of the safety fence in a first lap collision, but continued driving until running out of road. Undeterred, he lifted his kart back on to the track and continued to race. His mechanic thought Räikkönen had retired, but he eventually caught up with the other competitors and finished third. In 1998 he was 1st in Nordic (karting) Championship at Varna in Norway. In 1999, Räikkönen was placed second in the European Formula Super A championship. In the same year, he also competed in the Formula Ford Euro Cup. By the age of twenty, he had won the British Formula Renault winter series, winning the first four races of the year. In 2000, he won seven out of ten events in the Formula Renault UK Championship. Over two series of Formula Renault (1999, 2000), he won 13 out of 23 events — a 56% win rate.

Formula One (2001–2009)

Date of birth	October 17, 1979
Years	–
Team(s)	Sauber, McLaren, Ferrari
Races	157 (156 starts)
Championships	1 ()
Wins	18
Podiums	62
Points	579
Poles	16
Fastest laps	35
First race	2001 Australian Grand Prix
First win	2003 Malaysian Grand Prix
Last win	2009 Belgian Grand Prix
Last race	2009 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix

Sauber (2001)

On the basis of these results, Peter Sauber gave the Finn a test with the Sauber Formula One team in September 2000 at the Mugello Circuit. After further tests in Jerez and Barcelona, Sauber signed Räikkönen for the season. However, some critics (including FIA president Max Mosley) voiced concerns over granting an F1 Super Licence to such an inexperienced driver: Räikkönen had only 23 car races to his credit. He was nevertheless granted his license and scored a championship point in his debut at the 2001 Australian Grand Prix. Räikkönen was asleep 30 minutes before the race.

Räikkönen had a solid debut year, achieving four points-scoring finishes and eight finishes in the top eight. Completing the year with 9 points, Räikkönen, along with teammate Nick Heidfeld, helped Sauber to what was then its best result of fourth place in the constructors' championship.

McLaren (2002–2006)

Räikkönen, long linked to Sauber's engine supplier Ferrari, instead sufficiently impressed McLaren to earn a race seat in Ron Dennis's team for , taking the seat left vacant by double-world champion, mentor (and fellow Finn) Mika Häkkinen's sabbatical.

2002

in 2002.]]

Räikkönen scored a third-place podium finish in his first race with McLaren, the 2002 Australian Grand Prix. Although McLaren suffered many Mercedes engine failures in 2002, Räikkönen scored 24 points and four podiums, and held his own against teammate David Coulthard. Räikkönen came close to winning his first Grand Prix in France, but went off track with a handful of laps to go, because of oil from the blown engine of Allan McNish's Toyota on the circuit. He finished the race second. He finished the season in sixth place, one place behind his team mate; together they achieved a solid third place for McLaren in the constructors' championship.

2003

At the opening , Räikkönen qualified 15th in the spare car. In the race he took the lead before being caught speeding in the pitlane, after a software glitch in the car's electronic system. Räikkönen held off Michael Schumacher to finish 3rd. In Malaysia, Räikkönen won his first race The best qualifying position that a McLaren driver could manage in the first 3 races was 6th. Räikkönen compounded this by stalling on the grid of the first race of the season, the , and ending the race with just a point. He looked set for a podium in Malaysia until a faulty tyre valve failed and dropped him out of the points. Bahrain saw him achieve his first podium of the season with a third place behind Renault's Alonso and the Toyota of Jarno Trulli.

Räikkönen then achieved three consecutive poles in San Marino, Spain, and a win after a safety car strategy call by Neil Martin at Monaco. An almost certain win was denied at Imola after a driveshaft failure, but he won the other two races, putting him within 22 points of leader Alonso. He registered strong, comfortable wins at Barcelona, beating local boy Alonso and at Monte Carlo, never dropping his lead in both races. At the , Räikkönen flat-spotted his right front tyre while lapping Jacques Villeneuve (some commentators put a share of the blame on Villeneuve, as he did not give Räikkönen the racing line). The resultant vibrations caused his suspension to fail while he led on the final lap, sending him into the tyre wall and handing a further ten points to his rival Alonso. Changing a tyre would have given him a relatively safe third place. However, tyre changes were only allowed in 2005 in cases where a "punctured or damaged tyre" could be changed for "clear and genuine safety reasons" and there was no precedent for whether the stewards would consider a flat-spotted tyre dangerous enough. This incident, in part, resulted in a rules clarification allowing teams to change a flat-spotted tyre without punishment.

Alonso's first major mistake of the 2005 season handed the to Räikkönen. The following weekend saw all the Michelin teams, including McLaren, withdraw from the for safety reasons. At the , Räikkönen suffered a ten-place grid-penalty following the replacement of his new specification Mercedes Benz engine which failed in Friday practice. Räikkönen, putting in what Ron Dennis called his best ever qualifying lap, qualified 3rd (demoted to 13th) with a significant fuel load. He finished 2nd behind Fernando Alonso. A week later at the , Räikkönen suffered another Mercedes engine failure due to an oil leak; his 2nd place qualifying place became 12th. He claimed 3rd place in the race.

In Germany, Räikkönen was comfortably in the lead having dominated all weekend, but suffered a hydraulics failure, handing victory and a further 10 points to Alonso. It was his third retirement while leading a race during the season. On all three occasions, it was championship rival Alonso who took advantage to win. Significantly, at the opening of the , though saying he was very comfortable at McLaren, Räikkönen raised the possibility that he might leave McLaren when his contract expired in 2006 if reliability issues were not solved. He told a news conference, "We need to work in a better way just to make sure that the car is very reliable." However he went on to take the chequered flag with a convincing victory over Michael Schumacher, albeit after McLaren teammate Montoya retired with driveshaft failure while leading.

Räikkönen won the Hungarian Grand Prix from the most handicapped qualifying position, having had to do his qualifying run first on the notoriously dusty and dirty track because of his early retirement a week earlier at Hockenheim. No other driver had previously managed this feat. Räikkönen then became the first ever winner of the . Two weeks later at the , Räikkönen's pole position was taken from him as he received another 10-position grid penalty for an engine change. It would emerge that he had 5 laps of fuel more than teammate Montoya and 6 more than Alonso during qualifying – and still managed to outpace them. During the race, Räikkönen was forced to take an extra stop when his left-rear tyre delaminated, which dropped him down to 12th. He recovered, but spun his car after pushing too hard while chasing Giancarlo Fisichella. He eventually finished fourth.

He went on to win, for the second year in a row, in Belgium at Spa-Francorchamps. The following race, the , saw Alonso clinch the Drivers' Championship, after finishing third behind Montoya and Räikkönen. In the penultimate race of the year, at the Suzuka Circuit in Japan, Räikkönen took his 7th victory of the season after starting 17th on the grid (as rain, and an engine failure for Räikkönen, had mixed up the qualifying grid). The win was secured when he overtook Renault driver Fisichella (who had started third on the grid, and had led most of the race) on the final lap – which Formula One journalist Peter Windsor thought the most impressive move of the race.

Räikkönen received the F1 Racing "Driver of the Year" accolade, and the Autosport "International Racing Driver of the Year" award.

2006

in early 2006.]] In Bahrain, Räikkönen suffered electronic problems during Friday practice and a spectacular rear suspension breakage during the first qualifying session, which forced him back to 22nd place on the grid. Nevertheless he drove through the field, ending third behind Alonso and Michael Schumacher. In Malaysia, Räikkönen was hit from behind by Red Bull Racing's Christian Klien on the first lap. The impact caused a left rear suspension failure resulting in Räikkönen retiring from the race.

Having started the year clearly behind Renault, McLaren improved in Australia, where Räikkönen finished second after flat spotting a tyre and losing a wing end-plate, which caused him to fall off the pace somewhat around the midpoint of the race. Chasing down Alonso during the final stages of the race, he set the fastest lap of the race on the final lap, finishing only 1.8 seconds behind the Spaniard. At the , a bad choice of strategy and a mistake from Räikkönen in qualifying (8th) saw the McLarens get caught in traffic in the early part of the race allowing Michael Schumacher and Alonso to get away at the front. Räikkönen eventually finished 5th, with team mate Montoya ahead in 3rd place. McLaren team boss Ron Dennis blamed what he deemed to be Räikkönen's poor performance for the team's failure to finish in the top two in the race.

in April 2006.]]

At the , Räikkönen qualified 9th. However, he managed to get up to 5th place on the first lap of the race. He retained this position for most of the race, finishing in 5th place. A few days after the Spanish Grand Prix, he admitted that he had no chance of winning the 2006 Championship. In Monaco, Räikkönen qualified third. During the race he got up to 2nd and kept pace with Alonso, however he retired during a safety car period after a failed heat shield led to a wiring loom inside the car catching fire. After the retirement he was seen on live TV walking along the Monaco sidewalks with his helmet still on to the harbour and climbing aboard a yacht.

The at Silverstone saw Räikkönen qualify second behind Alonso and in front of Michael Schumacher. The running order was Alonso, Räikkönen, Schumacher until the second set of pitstops where Räikkönen was demoted to third by Schumacher, a position he held until the end of the race. In Canada, Räikkönen achieved another podium. In the , his teammate punted him out in an expensive seven car accident. The saw Räikkönen qualify his car in sixth. His teammate was now former test driver Pedro de la Rosa in place of Montoya. Räikkönen ended the race in fifth. In Germany, Räikkönen qualified on pole. After a battle with Jenson Button, he finished the race for the first time in his career, ending in third place. Another pole came in Hungary, but he collided with Vitantonio Liuzzi after 25 laps, causing his fourth retirement of the season.

A first turn incident with Scott Speed at the led to an exploded tyre and suspension damage. After a tyre change, Räikkönen's race ended half way into the next lap when he crashed into the barrier at turn 4 because of a loss of rear grip. Räikkönen qualified on pole for the by 2 thousandths of a second from Michael Schumacher. He led the early part of the race until the first pitstops where he was passed by Schumacher. He stayed in second place for the rest of the race. After the race, Schumacher announced that he would retire at the end of the season. Later, Ferrari announced that he would be replaced in the 2007 season by Räikkönen.

The saw another retirement for Räikkönen due to throttle problems. His last two Grands Prix, in Japan and Brazil, did lead to 2 finishes, but he missed the podium on both occasions. Räikkönen ended his time at McLaren-Mercedes with a fifth place in the World Drivers' Championship, with McLaren placing third in the World Constructors' Championship at the end of a winless year.

Räikkönen's British Formula Three Championship team Räikkönen Robertson Racing claimed their first major success, with British driver Mike Conway winning the 2006 British F3 International Series title and the prestigious Macau Grand Prix.

Ferrari (2007–2009)

After the 2006 Italian Grand Prix, Ferrari announced that Räikkönen had signed a three-year contract with Scuderia Ferrari for the 2007–2009 seasons. Räikkönen said after the move that he was very happy with this change of events but wished McLaren the best of luck in the future. He became the team mate to Brazilian Felipe Massa, who had been driving for Ferrari since 2006. Following the retirement of Michael Schumacher and his new deal with Ferrari, Räikkönen was estimated to be the highest paid driver in F1, with a base salary reportedly worth US $51M annually. At the , Räikkönen qualified fourth, finished fourth and recorded fastest lap of the race. With ten races in the season left, Räikkönen was 26 points behind leader Lewis Hamilton in the Drivers' Championship.

In France, Räikkönen qualified third, but overtook Hamilton at the first corner of the race. He subsequently ran second, behind team-mate Massa, for much of the Grand Prix, but overtook the Brazilian during the pit-stops and took his second victory of the season. This was the 11th victory of his Formula One career, as well as Ferrari's first 1–2 win of the 2007 season. At the , Räikkönen qualified in second place, just missing the pole by running wide in the last corner. In the race, again took the lead through pit stops, first overtaking Lewis Hamilton midway through the race and then putting in fast laps as Fernando Alonso pitted for the second time in the closing stages to pass him. Räikkönen led to the end of the race.

At the , Räikkönen captured his second pole position of the season, but retired from the race, run in heavy rain, with a problem with the hydraulics of the car. In Hungary, Räikkönen qualified his car in fourth place, but started from third after Fernando Alonso was penalised. In the race he overtook Nick Heidfeld at the start and pressured Hamilton until the end, but had to settle for second, being 0.7s behind Hamilton. He set the fastest lap time on the last lap of the race, commenting after the race: "I was so bored behind Hamilton, I wanted to see how quick I could have been." In Turkey, Räikkönen missed pole position after making a mistake in the final sector of his fast lap, which left him third on the grid. On race day, he overtook Hamilton in the first corner and took second place, which he kept to the end of the race.

At Monza's third practice session, Räikkönen crashed into the tyre wall before entering the Ascari chicane. He qualified in fifth place, and raced in the Ferrari reserve car while suffering from a neck problem. The Ferrari team employed an unusual one-stop strategy, which left him third after Hamilton passed him late in the race on fresh tyres. At Spa-Francorchamps, Räikkönen's favourite circuit, he secured pole position again and took his fourth victory of the season. Massa finished second, Alonso third and Hamilton fourth. This was also Räikkönen's third consecutive Spa win, which placed him among six other drivers with three or more Spa wins., where he won his fourth race of the year.]]

At the Fuji Speedway in Japan, the only new track on the 2007 calendar, Räikkönen qualified in third position, while Hamilton took pole and Alonso second. In an extremely wet race, which saw the first 19 laps run behind the safety car, both Räikkönen and team-mate Massa were badly affected by having to change to extreme wet tyres during the early stages, because the FIA's tyre-rule notification arrived late at Ferrari. Towards the end of the race, Räikkönen moved through the field to third place, but could not pass his fellow countryman Heikki Kovalainen for second.

At the in Shanghai, Räikkönen dominated the whole weekend with fastest laps in the free-practice sessions. In qualifying, Hamilton took pole position with a lighter fuel load, while Räikkönen qualified second and Massa third. There was light rainfall at the beginning of the race which prompted the cars to start on intermediate tyres. After the first round of pit stops Hamilton lost grip as his tyres suffered graining, and Räikkönen overtook him. Hamilton retired after sliding into a gravel trap in the pit lane. Räikkönen took his fifth win of the season, that revived his title hopes before the last race of the season. This was also the 200th race win and 600th podium in Ferrari's Formula One history. Räikkönen moved to seven and three points behind Hamilton and Alonso in the Drivers' Championship, respectively, going into the last race in Brazil, the first three-way title battle in the final race of the season since .

.]] Räikkönen took the 2007 Formula One Drivers' title with victory in the at Interlagos, in an incident-packed race. Massa had taken pole, followed by Hamilton, Räikkönen, and Alonso. At the start of the race Räikkönen passed Hamilton on the outside and lined up behind Massa. Alonso shortly afterwards passed Hamilton, who fell progressively down the order. Räikkönen eventually overtook Massa, who was already eliminated from contention for the Driver's Championship in the Japanese Grand Prix. Massa's strategy for the second round of pit stops ensured Räikkönen kept the lead. Räikkönen went on to take the chequered flag, which handed him the crown by a single point from Hamilton and Alonso. Championship leader Hamilton eventually finished the race in seventh place, while defending champion Alonso managed third.

While Räikkönen had only one point more than Alonso and Hamilton at the end of the season, he had the most victories (six compared to four by each McLaren driver).

Räikkönen's Drivers' championship was briefly put into doubt when race stewards began an investigation after identifying possible fuel irregularities in the cars of Nico Rosberg, Robert Kubica and Nick Heidfeld following post-race inspection. Their disqualification and a race reclassification would have seen Hamilton lifted from seventh to fourth in the race result. However the race stewards decided that no sanctions would be given, meaning the results would stand. McLaren appealed against the decision, however the FIA Court of Appeal rejected their appeal on 16 November 2007 thus confirming Räikkönen as the champion.

2008

After a disappointing first race for Ferrari in Australia where Räikkönen eventually finished eighth after starting 15th on the grid owing to a mechanical problem in qualifying, he won his first race of the 2008 season at the , finishing ahead of Robert Kubica and Heikki Kovalainen. His victory in Kuala Lumpur came on the fifth anniversary of his maiden victory at the same track. In Bahrain, Räikkönen qualified in fourth on the grid. He moved up to second place by the third lap and finished in that position, behind his team-mate Felipe Massa. He also secured the lead in the championship.

.]]

In Spain, Räikkönen took the 15th pole of his career and his first of the 2008 season. He managed to take his second race win of the season and the fastest lap of the race. Räikkönen overtook Mika Häkkinen in the list of total number of fastest laps and also in terms of podium finishes, making him the highest ranked Finnish driver in these statistics.

At the , Räikkönen qualified in fourth place. Despite damaging his front wing in the early stages after a collision with fellow Finn Heikki Kovalainen, Räikkönen was still able to set the fastest lap and finish in third place.

In Monaco, Räikkönen qualified in second behind teammate Felipe Massa. Räikkönen stayed second behind Massa until he was given a drive-through penalty for an infringement by the team on his car and dropped down to sixth. He was set for fifth until an incident with Adrian Sutil, when Räikkönen lost control on the damp track after exiting the tunnel, and hit Sutil's car in the rear. Räikkönen's car was not badly damaged and he was able to finish in ninth after replacing his front wing, also setting the fastest lap in the process. After the race, Mike Gascoyne, the Chief Technology Officer of Force India announced they were filing official protests with the stewards over the incident, demanding a ban for Räikkönen. However, the stewards decided not to penalise him.

at the 2008 Canadian Grand Prix.]]

In Canada, Räikkönen qualified third. In the race, he set the fastest lap during the first stint while catching up with Robert Kubica who was in second place. The safety car was deployed when Adrian Sutil's car broke down in a dangerous position. Both he and Kubica jumped ahead of race leader Lewis Hamilton when they pitted during the safety car period. As there was a red light at the end of the pitlane, Räikkönen and Kubica stopped alongside each other and waited for the signal to allow them back on to the circuit. Hamilton failed to notice the red light and hit the rear of Räikkönen's Ferrari, eliminating both cars.

Räikkönen went on to take his 16th pole position in France, which was the 200th pole for Scuderia Ferrari. Räikkönen dominated the race as he set the fastest lap and had a six second lead until a bank exhaust failure some half way through the race reduced his engine's power. He gave up the lead to his teammate Massa, but was far enough ahead of Toyota's Jarno Trulli, to secure second place and eight points.

Räikkönen qualified third at the . Before the race, Räikkönen pushed noted photographer Paul-Henri Cahier to the ground as he lined up a close-up shot. Raikkönen's manager Steve Robertson claimed the driver was provoked by Cahier touching him with his lens and standing on his belongings, but Cahier disputed this version of events. The race was in wet conditions and Räikkönen stayed third at the first corner behind Hamilton and Kovalainen. He kept pace and got up to second when Kovalainen spun. He then chased after Hamilton, and set the fastest lap as he drew up directly behind the McLaren. During the first pitstop, Ferrari did not change the intermediates on his car in the hope that the track would become dry. However, the track was hit by another shower, and Räikkönen rapidly lost pace, and dropped down to sixth before finally pitting for new tyres. He finished fourth, a lap down.

At the , Räikkönen qualified sixth and dropped down a place at the first corner. He was running fifth when the safety car came out after a crash involving Timo Glock. His teammate Felipe Massa was ahead of him on the track, and as a result, Räikkönen was forced to wait behind Massa when the pitlane opened. This dropped him down to 12th, but he eventually finished in sixth.

At the , Räikkönen again qualified sixth. He lost a position to Alonso at the beginning of the race but managed to finish third owing to Hamilton's tyre puncture, passing Alonso during the pitstops and Massa's retirement after an engine failure.

, where he crashed on the penultimate lap after a duel with Lewis Hamilton.]]

During the , Räikkönen qualified fourth and lost a place at the start to Kovalainen. He stayed fifth until the second round of pitstops when he exited before the fuel hose was properly disengaged from his car and left one of the mechanics with a fractured toe. Two laps later, he suffered a similar engine failure to Massa in the previous race; a connecting rod in his engine broke and he was forced to retire.

At the , Räikkönen again qualified fourth. He passed Kovalainen and Massa at the start to be second, and took the lead from Hamilton on the second lap. He pulled away, setting the fastest lap of the race and built a five second gap. He looked set to win but owing to a late-race rain shower, Hamilton closed right up to him and tried to pass him at the final chicane with two laps to go. Hamilton cut the chicane and rejoined ahead of Räikkönen. He claimed to have let Räikkönen take the place back. Hamilton then repassed him for the lead. The two battled on for the rest of the lap, with Räikkönen retaking the lead when the two stumbled upon spinning backmarker Nico Rosberg, forcing Hamilton onto the grass. Räikkönen spun at the next corner and fell behind Hamilton again. While trying to catch up, he lost control of the car, smashed into a wall and retired.

At the , which was held in extremely wet conditions, Räikkönen qualified 14th. He stayed on the 14th position for the first two stints. He climbed to ninth position in the third and last stint in which he also set the fastest lap of the race.

In Singapore, the first night-time event in Formula One history, Räikkönen qualified third behind Massa and Hamilton. He remained in this position for most of the early laps. On lap 14, Nelson Piquet, Jr.'s Renault hit the wall at turn 17 and the safety car was deployed. Both Ferrari drivers pitted during the safety car period, with Räikkönen queued behind Massa in a busy pitlane. Ferrari released Massa before the fuel hose was disconnected from the car, which compromised Räikkönen who rejoined in 16th. Räikkönen managed to climb to fifth place, but on lap 57, while attacking Timo Glock, he hit the wall after pushing too hard at turn 10 and retired. He set the fastest lap of the race as his tenth of the season. This equalled Michael Schumacher's 2004 record of ten fastest laps in a Formula One season.

At the at the Fuji Speedway circuit, Räikkönen qualified second on the grid, behind Hamilton, and took the lead at the start. Closing up to turn 1, Hamilton attempted to pass on the inside, braked late and went wide, forcing Räikkönen to also go wide. Räikkönen lost out heavily and went down to seventh position. He gained places after a collision between Hamilton and Massa, Kovalainen's hydraulic failure and an overtaking manoeuvre on Jarno Trulli. He eventually finished third, behind Renault's Fernando Alonso and BMW Sauber's Robert Kubica. This result meant that it was impossible for Räikkönen to retain his Drivers' Championship title for the second year.

In China, Räikkönen qualified second behind Hamilton. At the start he stayed second with his teammate and now Ferrari's world championship contender, Massa, behind him in third place. However, with Räikkönen out of the running for the world championship he let Massa through into second place on lap 49, to help the latter gain two additional points in his pursuit of Hamilton in the world championship race.

At the , Räikkönen qualified third and finished third, behind Massa and Alonso. As Kubica failed to score, he finished third in the championship.

Räikkönen also won the DHL Fastest Lap Award for the second year in a row. He set 10 fastest laps throughout the season.

2009

, Ferrari's 2009 challenger.]] At the start of the 2009 season in the , Räikkönen qualified in ninth place. The pace of the Ferraris and McLarens in particular was significantly slower than the likes of the Brawn, Red Bull and other outfits who were struggling to keep up with them in 2008. In the race, both Ferraris were running well before Räikkönen hit a barrier. He was forced to make an unscheduled pit stop on lap 43 and subsequently retired with differential failure.

.]]

In Malaysia, Räikkönen topped the time sheet in the second practice session. Räikkönen was ninth in qualifying. Sebastian Vettel and Rubens Barrichello's ten and five-place penalties respectively meant that he was promoted to 7th. During the race, rain was predicted and the team took a gamble to change Räikkönen to full wet tyres whilst the track was still dry. The gamble did not pay off, and Räikkönen fell down the field. By the time the race was stopped on the 33rd lap due to torrential rain, Räikkönen was classified 14th.

Räikkönen's season did not get any better in Round 3 in China where he qualified in 8th place. In the wet race, he and Lewis Hamilton had duels early on, with Hamilton having to overtake Räikkönen three times to get the job done. Räikkönen complained about power loss from the engine from near the start and of a lack of grip after his one and only pit-stop. This meant that he could only finish 10th. In Bahrain, Räikkönen secured 6th place and Ferrari's first points of the year, but was disappointed by the team's performance. He retired from the due to a hydraulics failure after qualifying from the back of the grid.

At the , Räikkönen secured 2nd place in qualifying, Ferrari and Räikkönen's best qualifying of the year so far. He admitted that he was still disappointed because he missed out on pole narrowly to the Brawn of Jenson Button. Räikkönen lost out to Rubens Barrichello at the start of the race, dropping back to 3rd. He maintained this position until the chequered flag.

At the , Räikkönen qualified sixth, but damaged his front wing on the first lap. He could only finish ninth, out of the points. At the , Räikkönen qualified ninth but a good start saw him move up to fifth. However, he dropped to eighth during the pit stops because of traffic and remained until the finish.

At the , Räikkönen qualified ninth after a damp session. In the race however he collided with the Force India of Adrian Sutil like in the previous year in Monte Carlo, as the German was emerging from a pitstop. While Sutil managed to recover back to the pits to replace a nosecone, Raikkonen was forced to retire a few laps later with radiator damage as a result of the incident.

At the , Räikkönen took his and Ferrari's best finish of the season in 2nd, after making a great start from 7th. After the first corner Räikkönen was in 4th place, but when Fernando Alonso retired after his early first stop, Räikkönen moved up to 3rd. Räikkönen overtook Webber for 2nd place at the first round of pit stops when Räikkönen and Webber pitted on the same lap. Räikkönen had a clean pit-stop, whereas Webber had a problem and was released into the path of the Ferrari. Räikkönen and Webber avoided collision, and Webber had to slot in behind Räikkönen. On his second pit stop, Räikkönen had a problem with an exhaust pipe. However, having built quite a gap between him and Webber, he held on to take 2nd place.

At the , he qualified 6th. He jumped to 4th at the start of the race. He then moved up to 3rd after the second pit stops jumping Heikki Kovalainen for the last podium place, and stayed in that position until the end of the race, claiming his second straight podium.

At the , he qualified 6th, jumping to 2nd at the start of the race. After the safety car was removed, he passed Giancarlo Fisichella to take the race lead and led all the way to the chequered flag for his first race win in 25 races, and the first and only one for Ferrari in 2009. It was Räikkönen's fourth victory in the last five Belgian Grands Prix, bolstering his reputation as "The King of Spa".

Räikkönen continued his good form at the , qualifying and finishing 3rd, after Lewis Hamilton's last-lap crash. It was his 4th consecutive podium finish.

Singapore saw the end of a great run for Räikkönen where he only finished 10th after qualifying 12th.

In Japan, Räikkönen came very close to another podium, finishing fourth. He had qualified fifth and was not able to gain a place at the start of the race, as he was on hard tyres. He put on softs for his second stint and was able to close in on Nick Heidfeld at about three quarters of a second every lap. He overtook the German after the BMW Sauber came out of the pits. However, an accident involving Toro Rosso's Jaime Alguersuari brought out the safety car on lap 44, which kept the field stationary for a further five laps. Despite Lewis Hamilton suffering a KERS failure, Räikkönen's car did not have the grip necessary and was not able to overtake the third-placed McLaren at the restart. He went wide in an attempt to overtake Hamilton but recovered without losing a further place to Nico Rosberg.

In Brazil, Räikkönen qualified 5th and finished 6th. His race was already ruined when Mark Webber swerved into his path, damaging the Ferrari's front wing. At the pit stop while having the wing changed, fuel dripping from the fuel rig stuck on Kovalainen's car caused the Ferrari to briefly burst in flames as the two cars were exiting their pit stops. For the rest of the race even with his eyes burning from fuel, Räikkönen used his strategy to move up the order and eventually finished in sixth place.

In Abu Dhabi, the last race of the season, Räikkönen qualified 11th with an uncompetitive car. He lost a place at the start of the race to Kamui Kobayashi. For the rest of the race, Räikkönen struggled and finished 12th, out of the points.

Leaving Formula One

Near the end of the 2009 season, Ferrari announced that Räikkönen would be leaving the team, despite having a contract to race for them in he would be replaced by Fernando Alonso. He was expected to return to McLaren alongside Lewis Hamilton but negotiations with the team failed. Räikkönen was linked to Mercedes GP but the team eventually signed Michael Schumacher and Nico Rosberg. Toyota F1, before it pulled out of Formula One, offered Räikkönen a driving contract to replace Timo Glock in 2010. The BBC reported that he refused the contract owing to wanting to drive a race-winning car, not to mention Toyota not offering a large enough salary.

On 17 November 2009, his manager Steve Robertson confirmed that Räikkönen would not drive in Formula One in the 2010 season. But during 2010 itself, rumours emerged once again about another possible Räikkönen comeback this time with the Renault team in 2011. This followed a resurgence in Renault's form, and the fact that the Russian Vitaly Petrov had yet to be re-signed like team-mate Robert Kubica. Team principal Éric Boullier claimed he had been contacted by Räikkönen in connection with a possible return, but said that although he was flattered by Räikkönen's alleged display of interest: However Räikkönen angrily shot down the suggestion that he would race, claiming that Renault had simply used his name for "their own marketing purposes".

Rallying

.]] Räikkönen made his rally debut at the Arctic Lapland Rally, which ran from 23 to 24 January 2009, driving a Tommi Mäkinen Racing-prepared Abarth Grande Punto S2000. He finished in 13th place. Räikkönen made his WRC debut in the 2009 Rally Finland, which took place between 30 July and 2 August, starting just four days after his 2nd place finish in the Hungarian Grand Prix. He was running third in group N and 15th overall before crashing out in Väärinmaja, last stage of Saturday.

.]] On 4 December 2009, it was announced that Räikkönen would shift from Formula 1 to the World Rally Championship for the 2010 season as a full-time driver for the Citroën Junior Team, and that he would be driving a Red Bull-sponsored Citroën C4 WRC with his co-driver, Kaj Lindström. As members of the team, the pair were scheduled to participate in 12 of 13 rallies in the 2010 WRC calendar, the exception being Rally New Zealand.

On 3 April 2010, Räikkönen scored his first WRC points when he finished eighth in the Jordan Rally. Consequently, he became the second driver after Carlos Reutemann to score championship points in both Formula One and the World Rally Championship.

In the next WRC event, the Rally of Turkey, Räikkönen improved his best result with a 5th place finish, 6m 44.3s off the winner, Sebastien Loeb. This result saw him beat established and more experienced drivers in the field.

In the 2010 Rally Finland, retired four time World Rally Champion Juha Kankkunen entered the race and said that if Räikkönen can't beat him then he might as well go back to F1. Kankkunen finished 8th and Räikkönen finished 25th due to car trouble. He finished 7th in Rally Deutschland, his 2nd ever asphalt rally, while notching up his first ever career stage win, the last stage of the rally.

On 18 September 2010, Räikkönen achieved his first rally win when he participated in the Rallye Vosgien 2010 in France. He won all six stages in the asphalt rally. Räikkönen couldn't start in the Rally Catalunya because he crashed during the shakedown, leaving the roll cage damaged, and the team didn't have enough time to repair it. Subsequently Räikkönen decided to not take part in the rally at all, even when he could by super rally rules. The reason was stated to be saving the car.

Personal life

Räikkönen married Jenni Dahlman, a Finnish model and former Miss Scandinavia, on 31 July 2004. They currently live in Switzerland. His older brother, Rami Räikkönen, is a rally driver and a national junior-class champion, who also competes in the Finnish Formula 3 Championship; their father Matti was a road builder.

Räikkönen's hobbies include snowboarding and ice hockey. During his spare time he can often be seen watching his hometown ice hockey team Espoo Blues play. He has also competed in several different kinds of motorsport events. In March 2007, while his Formula One rivals were in Australia preparing for the season opener, Räikkönen competed in a snowmobile race in Finland under the pseudonym "James Hunt", referring to the 1976 world champion whose "playboy" lifestyle has been compared with Räikkönen's own. Räikkönen won the Enduro Sprint race by over 20 seconds with his Lynx. Later in the year, he and two friends entered a powerboat race in the Finnish harbour city of Hanko while wearing gorilla suits. Again, he raced under the name "James Hunt". They then won a prize for the best-dressed crew.

In August 2008, it was announced that Räikkönen would appear on a set of Finnish postage stamps. The stamps, which were released to commemorate the Finnish postal service's 370th anniversary, feature images of him racing and on the podium, with the words "F1 World Champion '07 Kimi Räikkönen".

Results and records

Career summary

{| border="2" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" style="margin: 0 1em 0 0; background: #f9f9f9; border: 1px #aaa solid; border-collapse: collapse; font-size: 95%;" |- ! Season ! Series ! Team Name ! Races ! Poles ! Wins ! Points ! Final Placing |- | style="text-align:center;" rowspan="4"| 1999 | European Formula Ford | ? | style="text-align:center;"| 2 | style="text-align:center;"| ? | style="text-align:center;"| ? | style="text-align:center;"| ? | style="text-align:center;"| 5th |- | Formula Ford Festival | Continental Racing Van Diemen | style="text-align:center;"| 1 | style="text-align:center;"| 0 | style="text-align:center;"| 0 | style="text-align:center;"| N/A | style="text-align:center;"| NC |- | Formula Renault 2000 UK Winter Championship | Manor Motorsport | style="text-align:center;"| 4 | style="text-align:center;"| 4 | style="text-align:center;"| 4 | style="text-align:center;"| 40 | style="text-align:center; background:#fbffbf;"| 1st |- | Formula Renault 2000 UK | Haywood Racing | style="text-align:center;"| 4 | style="text-align:center;"| 0 | style="text-align:center;"| 0 | style="text-align:center;"| ? | style="text-align:center;"| ? |- | style="text-align:center;" rowspan="2"| 2000 | Formula Renault 2000 Eurocup | ? | style="text-align:center;"| 2 | style="text-align:center;"| 2 | style="text-align:center;"| 2 | style="text-align:center;"| 62 | style="text-align:center;"| 7th |- | Formula Renault 2000 UK | Manor Motorsport | style="text-align:center;"| 10 | style="text-align:center;"| 6 | style="text-align:center;"| 7 | style="text-align:center;"| 316 | style="text-align:center; background:#fbffbf;"| 1st |- | style="text-align:center;"| 2001 | Formula One | Sauber | style="text-align:center;"| 17 | style="text-align:center;"| 0 | style="text-align:center;"| 0 | style="text-align:center;"| 9 | style="text-align:center;"| 10th |- | style="text-align:center;"| 2002 | Formula One | McLaren | style="text-align:center;"| 17 | style="text-align:center;"| 0 | style="text-align:center;"| 0 | style="text-align:center;"| 24 | style="text-align:center;"| 6th |- | style="text-align:center;"| 2003 | Formula One | McLaren | style="text-align:center;"| 16 | style="text-align:center;"| 2 | style="text-align:center;"| 1 | style="text-align:center;"| 91 | style="text-align:center; background:#dfdfdf;"| 2nd |- | style="text-align:center;"| 2004 | Formula One | McLaren | style="text-align:center;"| 18 | style="text-align:center;"| 1 | style="text-align:center;"| 1 | style="text-align:center;"| 45 | style="text-align:center;"| 7th |- | style="text-align:center;"| 2005 | Formula One | McLaren | style="text-align:center;"| 19 | style="text-align:center;"| 5 | style="text-align:center;"| 7 | style="text-align:center;"| 112 | style="text-align:center; background:#dfdfdf;"| 2nd |- | style="text-align:center;"| 2006 | Formula One | McLaren | style="text-align:center;"| 18 | style="text-align:center;"| 3 | style="text-align:center;"| 0 | style="text-align:center;"| 65 | style="text-align:center;"| 5th |- | style="text-align:center;"| 2007 | Formula One | Ferrari | style="text-align:center;"| 17 | style="text-align:center;"| 3 | style="text-align:center;"| 6 | style="text-align:center;"| 110 | style="text-align:center; background:#fbffbf;"| 1st |- | style="text-align:center;"| 2008 | Formula One | Ferrari | style="text-align:center;"| 18 | style="text-align:center;"| 2 | style="text-align:center;"| 2 | style="text-align:center;"| 75 | style="text-align:center; background:#ffdf9f;"| 3rd |- | style="text-align:center;" rowspan="2"| 2009 | Formula One | Ferrari | style="text-align:center;"| 17 | style="text-align:center;"| 0 | style="text-align:center;"| 1 | style="text-align:center;"| 48 | style="text-align:center;"| 6th |- | World Rally Championship | Tommi Mäkinen Racing | style="text-align:center;"| 1 | style="text-align:center;"| 0 | style="text-align:center;"| 0 | style="text-align:center;"| 0 | style="text-align:center;"| – |- | style="text-align:center;"| 2010 | World Rally Championship | Citroën Junior Team | style="text-align:center;"| 13 | style="text-align:center;"| 0 | style="text-align:center;"| 0 | style="text-align:center;"| 25 | style="text-align:center;"| 10th |}

Complete Formula One results

() (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Formula One records and achievements

In 2005 Räikkönen equalled the record of wins in a single season without winning the World Title (7), shared with four time World Champion Alain Prost, who initially set the record in 1984 and matched it in 1988, and also with Michael Schumacher, in 2006.

In the 2005 and 2008 seasons, he equalled Michael Schumacher's record of 10 fastest race laps in a season, set in 2004.

He currently holds the third highest record for total fastest laps at 35.

In 2008, Räikkönen scored six consecutive fastest race laps (in Spain, Turkey, Monaco, Canada, France and Britain), equalling Alberto Ascari's record for the most consecutive fastest laps in a single season and placing him one behind Ascari's overall record of seven consecutive fastest laps (which were split across two seasons: six in 1952 and one in 1953).

He was the first driver to win on his Ferrari debut since Nigel Mansell at the 1989 Brazilian Grand Prix and the first to win, set the fastest lap and pole position on his Ferrari debut since Juan Manuel Fangio at the 1956 Argentine Grand Prix. His replacement Fernando Alonso also won on his Ferrari debut at the 2010 Bahrain Grand Prix, setting the fastest lap on the way; however Alonso only qualified 3rd.

Following Michael Schumacher's retirement at the end of 2006, Räikkönen was the highest paid driver in Formula One, with a reputed base salary of $51 m per year.

The 2007 Chinese Grand Prix saw Räikkönen give Scuderia Ferrari their 200th Formula One GP win, as well as their 600th podium (along with team-mate Felipe Massa who finished in 3rd).

At the 2008 French Grand Prix Räikkönen gave Ferrari their 200th pole position.

Räikkönen is the second driver to win the World Championship after being third in the drivers standings before the final race. Giuseppe Farina, the first F1 World Champion, was the first to do this in , beating Juan Manuel Fangio by three points and Luigi Fagioli by six points. Sebastian Vettel repeated this feat in 2010, when he won the championship at the 2010 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.

Räikkönen is the third Ferrari driver after Juan Manuel Fangio and Jody Scheckter to win the world title in their first year with the team.

Räikkönen is the third Finnish driver to win the World Championship, after Keke Rosberg and Mika Häkkinen. He is also the most successful Finnish Formula One driver in terms of points, podium finishes and fastest laps.

Räikkönen also holds the record for the most wins in a debut year with Ferrari with 6, beating Alain Prost's previous record of 5 from 1990.

See also

Famous Finns

The Flying Finns

References

Bibliography

External links

Kimi Räikkönen official website

Formula One DataBase: Kimi Räikkönen

|after=Lewis Hamilton}} –|after=Sebastian Vettel}}

Category:1979 births Category:Living people Category:People from Espoo Category:Finnish racecar drivers Category:Finnish rally drivers Category:World Rally Championship drivers Category:Finnish Formula One drivers Category:McLaren Formula One drivers Category:Ferrari Formula One drivers Category:Formula One World Drivers' Champions Category:British Formula Renault 2.0 drivers Category:Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0 drivers Category:Formula Ford drivers Category:Monaco Grand Prix winners Category:CIK-FIA Karting World Championship drivers Category:Finnish expatriates in Switzerland Category:Finnish expatriates in the United Kingdom Category:Finnish Lutherans

Name	André Rieu
Background	non_vocal_instrumentalist
Birth name	André Léon Marie Nicolas Rieu
Born	October 01, 1949
Origin	Maastricht, Netherlands
Instrument	Violin
Genre	Waltz
Occupation	Conductor, violinist
Years active	1978–present
Label	Denon Records , Philips
Url	www.andrerieu.com
Notable instruments	Stradivarius violin (1667)

André Léon Marie Nicolas Rieu (born 1 October 1949) is a Dutch violinist, conductor, and composer best known for creating the waltz-playing Johann Strauss Orchestra.

Early life and studies

André Rieu was born into a Christian musical family (of French Huguenot origin) on 1 October 1949 in Maastricht in the Netherlands. He began studying violin at the age of five. His father was conductor of the Maastricht Symphony Orchestra. From a very young age he developed a fascination with orchestra. He studied violin at the Conservatoire Royal in Liège and at the Conservatorium Maastricht, (1968–1973). His teachers included Jo Juda and Herman Krebbers. From 1974 to 1977, he attended the Music Academy in Brussels, studying with André Gertler, winning the Premier Prix at the academy.

Career

At University he performed the Gold And Silver Waltz by Franz Lehár. Encouraged by the audience reaction he decided to pursue the waltz form. Rieu formed the Maastricht Salon Orchestra and performed as a violinist with the Limburg Symphony Orchestra. In 1987, he created the Johann Strauss Orchestra and his own production company. Since then, his melodramatic stage performances and rock-star demeanor have for some been associated with a revival of the waltz music category. André Rieu plays a 1667 Stradivarius violin.

Johann Strauss Orchestra

The Orchestra began in 1987 with 12 members but now performs with between 40 and 50 musicians. At the time the Orchestra first toured Europe, there emerged a renewed interest in waltz music. The revival began in the Netherlands and was ignited by their recording of the Second Waltz from Shostakovich's Jazz Suites. As a result, Rieu became known as the waltz King.

Rieu and his orchestra have performed throughout Europe, in North America, and Japan. Winning a number of awards including two World Music Awards, their recordings have gone gold and platinum in many countries, including 8-times Platinum in the Netherlands. In September 2007 Rieu performed in Australia for the first time solo, without his Orchestra at the Eastland shopping centre in the Melbourne suburb of Ringwood playing "My Way" and "Waltzing Matilda"—and the next day appeared at Sydney's Arena Cove, Warringah Mall shopping with the same set. Rieu and orchestra returned to Australia in November as part of his world tour. Rieu and his orchestra played 3 concerts at Melbourne's Telstra Dome from 13–15 November and continued their tour throughout Perth, Sydney, Brisbane and Adelaide, through to December 2008. The concert theme is 'A Romantic Vienna Night' and the set comprises a life-size reproduction of the Viennese imperial Schönbrunn Palace, complete with 2 ice-skating rinks 2 Fountains, and a ballroom dance floor situated above and behind the Orchestra. Rieu's largest concert attendance to date in Australia was 38,000 on Saturday 15 November in Melbourne. The Perth concert did not feature the replica of the Viennese Palace as it was stated in the press because it would not fit into the front doors of Subiaco Oval.

He records both DVD and CD repertoire at his own recording studios in Maastricht in a wide range of classical music as well as popular and folk music plus music from well-known soundtracks and musical theatre. His lively orchestral presentations, in tandem with incessant marketing, have attracted worldwide audiences to this subgenre of classical music.

Some of his orchestra's performances have been broadcast in the United Kingdom and the United States on the PBS television network such as the 2003 airing of Andre Rieu Live in Dublin, filmed in Dublin, Ireland, and 2005's André Rieu Live in Tuscany filmed in the Piazza Della Repubblica in the village of Cortona in Tuscany.

Reception

Rieu's recorded music and live performances have been a cause of controversy in the music and popular press. He has attracted criticism, for example from the artistic director of the Australian Chamber Orchestra, Richard Tognetti, who called Rieu's music Schlagermusik, among other things.

Eamon Kelly writing in The Australian newspaper, in an article that discusses the controversy that Rieu engenders, said: "He depicts his critics as members of a stuffy musical elite with narrow aesthetic tastes, yet regularly demeans in interviews music that is not to his taste and classical musicians who choose not to perform in his manner."

Of Rieu's popularity and the debate in the media over criticism of him, Eamon Kelly says:

It is disappointing to see professional journalists indulging in cheap, inaccurate stereotypes to dismiss criticism of Rieu.

Chris Boyd, a critic writing for Melbourne's Herald Sun newspaper, finds that he could not give a general criticism of the playing of Rieu, as, except for "a clean and lyrical solo in Waltzing Matilda", his main stage function was apparently "blarney and delegation". However, Boyd also comments that the quality of the artists that Rieu works with is "extraordinary". Boyd assesses the low points of the concert as the "Three Tenors-style" rendition of "Nessun dorma" which he finds was an "abomination", while saying the concert's highlights included "a sugar-shock sweet rendition" of "O mio babbino caro" as well as Strauss's Emperor Waltz and Blue Danube, Purcell's Trumpet Voluntary and the Boléro.

Personal life

He is married to Marjorie, who works with him full-time as production manager, and has two sons, Marc and Pierre. He speaks (in order of fluency) Dutch, English, German, French, Italian and Spanish.

Honours

Knight of the Order of the Netherlands Lion (Netherlands, 2002)

Honorary Medal of the Province of Limburg (Netherlands, 2009)

Knight of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres (France, 2009)

== Selected discography ==

Forever Vienna (2009) – UK: #2, IRE: #4

The Best of André Rieu (2009) – Australian Albums: #23

Masterpieces (2009) – Australian Albums: #9

You'll Never Walk Alone (2009) – Australian Albums: #2

Live in Australia (2008) – Australian Albums: #14

Waltzing Matilda (2008) – Australian Albums: #1

The 100 Most Beautiful Melodies (2008) – Australian Albums: #2

Live In Dresden: The Wedding at the Opera (2008)

In Wonderland (2007)

Live in Vienna (2007)

Auf Schönbrunn (2006)

New York Memories (2006)

Songs from My Heart (2005)

Christmas Around the World (2005)

Live in Tuscany (2004)

The Flying Dutchman (2004)

New Year's Eve in Vienna (2003)

André Rieu at the Movies (2003)

Live in Dublin (2003)

Romantic Paradise (2003)

Maastricht Salon Orkest – Serenata (2003)

Love Around the World (2002)

Dreaming (2002)

Live at the Royal Albert Hall (2001)

Musik Zum Träumen (2001)

La Vie Est Belle (2000)

Fiesta! (1999)

100 Years of Strauss (1999)

Romantic Moments (1998)

Waltzes (1998, re-edited in November 1999)

The Christmas I Love (1997)

The Vienna I Love (1997)

In Concert (1996)

Strauss gala (1995)

D'n blauwen aovond (1995)

Hieringe biete 1 & 2 (1995)

Strauss & Co (1994)

Hieringe biete (1993)

Merry Christmas (1992)

References

External links

André Rieu (official website)

André Rieu's Official Australian website

André Rieu Albums (fan website – listen here)

André Rieu (C Music TV Biography)

Official André Rieu YouTube Channel

Category:1949 births Category:Living people Category:Dutch classical violinists Category:Dutch conductors (music) Category:People from Maastricht Category:People from Limburg (Netherlands) Category:People of Huguenot descent Category:Chevaliers of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres Category:Dutch people of French descent