Kimi Raikkonen Sexual Assault Case won’t Affect Contract

Ferrari driver Kimi Raikkonen will contest the Canadian Grand Prix on Sunday. However, the veteran Finn has a sexual assault allegation hanging over his head. In response, he slapped an extortion attempt case against his accuser. A waitress claimed that the Formula One driver sexually assaulted her in a Montreal bar in 2016.

Raikkonen has filed a complaint with police, claiming he’s been threatened with public accusations of sexual misconduct, unless he pays financial compensation.

The woman claims that Raikkonen groped her and he was drunk. She also said that one of Raikkonen’s friends was also allegedly involved.

Raikkonen’s legal team revealed that they received a letter last month stating she would go public with the accusations. The only condition was that she received a sizeable compensation.

Jamie Benizri, the woman’s representative said that money wasn’t the reason behind the original complaint.

“It was not a question of cashing out and running to the bank. It was a question of trying to understand what happened in 2016,” Benizri said.

He also likened Raikkonen’s extortion complaint to “trying to kill an ant with a bazooka.”

Raikkonen comes to Montreal this week for the Canadian Grand Prix, following his fourth place finish in last week’s Monaco GP.

He is currently sitting in fifth in the world championship, fifty points behind championship leader Lewis Hamilton.

The 38-year-old is out of contract with Ferrari at the end of the 2018 season. However, Ferrari president, Sergio Marchionne said that the Finnish driver “is not involved in the least” in the case.

“Kimi has nothing to do with this story. As to how it will affect his contract, then in any case they are two completely unrelated things,” Marchionne added. Earlier, there were rumours that Raikkonen could switch from Ferrari to world rally for the 2019 season.