Years ago, I remember a journalist - I think it was Denis Jenkinson - remarking that the problem with the F1 paddock was that there were "too many drivers pushing prams around." The writer's complaint was that he had always seen racing drivers as rebellious, independent free spirits, and looking around, he couldn't help noticing the number of sensible, family men behind the wheel. A long way from the devil-may-car free-spirited ideal of the racing driver in his eyes.

If he were looking at the F1 grid of today, he might instead be tempted to complain that too many drivers were being chaperoned by their Dads, like little kids. It's hard to ignore the fact that Messrs Anthony Hamilton, John Button and Luiz Antonio Massa seem to be near-permanent presences in the pit garages. It certainly seems a far cry from the days when Niki Lauda openly defied his father to embark upon a racing career, and Jackie Stewart's mother refused ever to openly acknowledge what her son did for a living. It's no surprise really. To stand a chance of an F1 career these days, it is necessary to start so young that it is highly unlikely anyone will succeed without the full support of their family. Come to that, the sport is much safer than it once was, removing perhaps the most likely reason for familial opposition to a racing career.

That I can live with. What I find more disappointing is how well behaved racing drivers seem to be - at least in public - these days. When did you last hear a driver criticise the FIA, the way the F1 rulebook is going, or even, for the most part, their team? Some call this tendency political correctness, but to me it appears to be something subtly different, and worse. It is more a kind of corporate correctness, a seemingly widespread fear of doing anything that might be frowned upon by the powers that be: the sponsors, the teams, Bernie Ecclestone, the FIA.

It's hard to imagine a driver of today being as forthright and open as, say Niki Lauda or Keke Rosberg. Drivers these days seem to speak to journalists only in the presence of their PR-trained press officers and give answers clearly prepared in advance by people involved in that most soulless of trades - marketing. That's not all that has changed though. On top of all this, their entire lives seem curtailed and controlled in ways that would seem alien to drivers from, say, twenty or thirty years back. Where Jim Clark or Stirling Moss might have raced sportscars or saloon cars in their weekends off, and some years later, Patrick Depailler regularly engaged in paragliding, today's drivers seem contractually obliged not to do anything remotely 'dangerous' in their spare time. Sometimes, the restrictions are still more nakedly commercial. Michael Schumacher was allowed to compete in the 2004 Race of Champions at Stade De France, but thanks to his deal with Ferrari/FIAT, he was not allowed to drive the Citroen or Peugeot rally cars that other competitors were let loose with.

It's in this rather strange world that the monosyllabic Kimi Raikkonen actually seems a breath of fresh air. OK, so he doesn't ever say anything much at press conferences and frequently trails of into mumbling incomprehensibility. For the most part, it's not as though many of the other drivers actually say anything interesting (see, for example, the utter silence that greeted recent attempts by journalists to get drivers to comment on the Max Mosley affair). In this light, Raikkonen's silence can come across as a kind of quiet protest.

Around the time of the launch of the Honda 'Earth Dreams' car, I remember drivers at a press conference being asked what they were doing to lessen their impact on the environment. Now, whatever your views on the green movement, there's little that sounds more ridiculous than millionaire racing drivers with their private planes and yachts talking about energy efficient light-bulbs and hybrid cars. That, though, is what they did. Except for Raikkonen - who when asked if he was doing anything to save the environment, cast PR aside and replied simply - "no".

Unlike many of his colleagues, he's not afraid to pursue a bit of excitement off-track either. Last year, he had a go at powerboat racing, hiding under a gorilla suit, of all things. While other drivers were adjusting to the heat of Australia in preparation for the 2007 F1 season last year, Raikkonen was competing in, and winning, the Kopparberg King snowmobile race. Under the pseudonym of James Hunt, no less.

It has been reported that Raikkonen read and enjoyed Gerald Donaldson's biography of Hunt a couple of years back, perhaps recognising a kindred spirit. Compared to the English playboy champion of the 1970s, Raikkonen may lead a relatively tame, sensible sort of a life. When compared with his squeaky clean contemporaries, though, it's another matter.