Fifteen years may have passed, but for Paula Räikkönen, the memory of her late husband remains as vivid as ever.
Matti Räikkönen, the quiet, hardworking father who helped shape the early racing career of Kimi Räikkönen, passed away in 2010. Since then, life has moved forward — seasons have changed, grandchildren have grown, and Kimi’s career has reached legendary heights — but the absence of a lifelong partner is something that time alone cannot erase.
“Fifteen years without him,” Paula reportedly reflected in a heartfelt moment shared with close friends. “You learn to live with it… but you never stop missing him.”
Matti was more than a father to a future Formula 1 world champion. He was the steady force behind the scenes — the man who worked long hours, who helped build and maintain karts, who quietly sacrificed so his son could chase a dream that once seemed impossibly distant. Before the roaring crowds, before the Ferrari red, before the world titles, there was a small Finnish garage and two parents who believed.
When Matti passed away, the silence inside the family home was overwhelming. Paula has spoken about how the smallest things — a familiar chair, a routine conversation, shared evening coffee — became reminders of what was lost. Grief, she has suggested, does not arrive loudly; it lingers in the quiet.
But healing began in the most natural way — through family.
As Kimi built his life beyond racing and married Minttu Räikkönen, the family circle expanded. The arrival of grandchildren brought a new rhythm into Paula’s life — laughter replacing silence, playful noise filling once-heavy rooms.
“They were my light,” Paula is said to have shared. “Kimi, Minttu, and the children… they gave me strength when the house felt too quiet.”
Those close to the family describe Minttu as a warm and supportive presence, helping maintain strong family bonds and ensuring Paula remained at the heart of gatherings and celebrations. Birthdays, holidays, and everyday visits became moments not just of togetherness, but of quiet healing.
For Kimi — known globally as the calm and composed “Iceman” — family has always been sacred. Though rarely expressive in public, those around him say he became even more protective and attentive after his father’s passing. In many ways, he stepped into a role shaped by the example Matti left behind: steady, dependable, and quietly devoted.
Today, Paula carries both sorrow and pride. Sorrow for the partner she lost. Pride in the son who fulfilled the dream they once nurtured together. Pride in the grandchildren who now carry the family name forward.
Fifteen years without him has not erased the pain. But it has transformed it into remembrance — into stories shared at the dinner table, into photographs carefully kept, into values passed down through generations.
The silence that once felt unbearable is no longer empty.
It echoes instead with love, legacy, and the light of a family that refused to let loss define them.
And in every milestone Kimi achieves — on or off the track — there is still a quiet presence beside them, remembered, honored, and deeply missed.
