With a multitude of eye-catching storylines from the race in Imola, a few impressive performances went unnoticed. Not least that of Alfa Romeo F1’s Kimi Raikkonen. The Finn ended the race in P9, but not before a storm of debris hit him as a result of George Russell’s crash with Valtteri Bottas. The Iceman’s radio message pretty much summed up the whole scenario.
Trust Raikkonen to paint an accurate picture of the aftermath of the crash. The Alfa Romeo driver who rarely errs from being brutally honest and appears mostly irritable was the first car to pass the scene of the crash. As such, he was welcomed by a large amount of debris still swirling all over the place. Safe to say, Raikkonen wasn’t too pleased.
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He came over the team radio and said, “I got sprayed with all kinds of f**king sh*t.”
His engineer didn’t really help matters when he told Kimi that there was a lot of debris on the track. In fact, his statements got the typical ‘Iceman’ treatment.
Raikkonen said, “I know because it just f**king happened in front of me! My car is full of sh*t.”
However, that wasn’t going to be the only thing that ruined Kimi’s mood.
Read More: Why the Long Face? Alfa Romeo See the Funny Side to Kimi Raikkonen’s Imola Heartbreak
An impressive race ends in disappointment for Kimi Raikkonen
Having crossed the checkered flag in P9 to secure a rare points finish, all the happiness would soon be curbed by the FIA. Following the culmination of the race, they slapped Raikkonen with a 30-second time penalty.
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This came about due to an incident that took place at Turn 3, just before the race restarted. The Finn had spun his car and lost track position but was entitled to retake his place before the first safety car line.
However, he did not do so under team orders and maintained position. According to the rules, this would mean Kimi would have to restart the race from the pitlane. But he did not do so since neither he nor the team were aware of this.
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As a result of the penalty, Raikkonen lost his hard-earned points and was demoted to a P13 finish.
As such, Kimi’s hunt for a points finish still continues in 2021, but he’ll hope that stat can change by the end of the race in Portimao.