Lotus' star snaps at reporters for repeated queries about tyres and long-run pace
The ‘Iceman’ he may be but Kimi Raikkonen appeared to lose patience with the press after he was repeatedly asked the same question in different ways yesterday.
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Kimi Raikkonen at a media interaction before the Malaysian Grand Prix practice sessions yesterday at Sepang. PIC/Getty Images
The 2007 world champion, popular the world over for his detached demeanour and monosyllabic answers, is also known for his dislike of the press and all the other promotional activities that go hand-in-hand with being a modern Formula One driver.
That disdain for the press was on full display yesterday after the practice runs.u00a0Many expect tyres to be the deciding factor come Sunday’s race and naturally all gathered journalists wanted to know how Raikkonen — who cruised to victory at last weekend’s season-opener as his car’s ability to look after its tyres allowed him to run a two-stop strategy — thought they behaved in the Malaysian heat.
The Finn explained how he hadn’t been able to do long runs in practice due to an issue with his Kinetic Energy Recovery System (KERS) in the morning and rain in the afternoon so he had no idea how the tyres would hold up on Sunday.
But Raikkonen was immediately asked if he had been able to finish all the running the team had planned for practice to which he replied: “Of course not. Because it rained I think everybody missed the long runs. But it’s the same for all of us so we’ll see in the race what happens.”
Finally, after repeated questions about tyres and long run pace Raikkonen, now growing impatient, shot back: “I don’t know. You keep asking the same question. I have no idea. We didn’t do a long run.”
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