F1
The Iceman lives up to his name as he and Charles Pic star in Russian ice race.
Kimi Raikkonen is not a man to turn down the chance to drive something unusual, and just hours after wrapping up the second Formula One test in Barcelona, the Finn was on a plane to Russia to take part in an ice race.
Raikkonen was competing, along with Caterham driver Charles Pic, at The Race of Stars, a Russian ice-racing event that’s the frozen equivalent of the Race of Champions, and which has previously hosted guest stars including Sebastien Loeb, David Coulthard and Alain Prost.
The Formula One pair initially battled each other in a pair of Renault Dusters, with Raikkonen’s World Rally Championship experience helping him to easily overcome the young Frenchman, who was driving on ice for the first time.
The pair then switched to Renault Logans to take turns at beating Russian World Touring Car driver Kirill Ladygin in a two-way shootout around the Moscow track, with the Russian – who also notched up a fourth successive win in the feature race – proving too strong in his natural habitat for either driver to overcome.
"It’s nice to have fans from here and hopefully they will come when a race will be here,” said Raikkonen, referring to the plans to have a Russian Grand Prix on the F1 calendar by next year.
Raikkonen will return to Barcelona on Thursday for the third and final pre-season F1 test, ahead of the first race of the year in Melbourne on March 17th.
