WATCH: When Kimi Raikkonen Had Balls of Steel at the Belgian Grand Prix

Kimi Raikkonen is often known to be a driver who simply gets in the car and drives as fast as possible. However, there have been several occasions when the Finn threw all caution into the wind and pulls off something gutsy. During the 2002 Belgian Grand Prix weekend, he pulled off an insane stunt that could have gone very wrong.

Apparently, the BAR of Olivier Panis suffered a massive engine failure on the Kemmel straight and pulled off to retire. Obviously, there was a thick plume of smoke lingering over that section, effectively limiting visibility.

Conventional wisdom says that drivers must slow down because there is a danger of a high-speed collision if a car is on track.

However, Kimi Raikkonen did not get the memo, or he ignored it completely. The Finnish driver simply floored the throttle and burst through the smoke at top speed. It was a miracle that there were no nasty surprises waiting for him on the other side.

Did Kimi Raikkonen do the right thing?

The short answer is, NO! Of course not. This is because there were millions of reasons why things could have gone very wrong. He was extremely lucky that Panis had pulled off to the side of the track and parked it in a safe place.

Had the Frenchman stopped in the middle of the track, there was a danger of the Finn going headlong into him. That would have been a very nasty high-speed crash, with the potential to inflict injury.

There was an incident involving that very scenario during the 2004 Monaco Grand Prix. At that time, Takuma Sato experienced an engine blowout, and in the chaos, Giancarlo Fisichella collided with David Coulthard.

The Sauber driver and the McLaren driver were almost invisible due to the smoke, and that led to the collision.

Fast-forward to the 2020 season, and Kimi Raikkonen is now a seasoned F1 veteran. He may not be the daredevil that he used to be, but he is still a quick driver.

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