After finishing third at the Spanish Grand Prix last month, the Finnish driver Kimi Raikkonen, the 2007 world champion, was asked in the televised post-race press conference to discuss the race in his native language, as is the custom.

“Happy Mother’s Day to all of the mothers in Finland,” Raikkonen said in Finnish.

There was a pause as the questioner expected more. But it became clear that the driver known as Iceman for his cold demeanor, nerves of steel and few words, had completed his statement.

Asked a few minutes later in an off-air press conference why he had said so little — and nothing about the race at that — he replied, “I had nothing else to say.”

It was more than just typical Raikkonen. It was a defining moment of the return to Formula One of one of the series’ least expressive champions, after two years’ absence. But in his own way, it was a precise expression of his current sentiment: Raikkonen has returned to Formula One after leaving at the end of 2009 to take up rally racing, and he has found himself with a Lotus racing car that can win races. After small problems in the early races, he finished second in Bahrain and then third in Spain, and he felt victory at his fingertips. He has scored points in all but one race, and lies sixth in the series after seven races.