Kimi Raikkonen brushes off F1 practice fire: ‘There was nothing scary about it'

Kimi Raikkonen has downplayed his dramatic-looking fire which caused second practice for F1’s season-ending Abu Dhabi Grand Prix to be red-flagged.
Kimi Raikkonen (FIN) Alfa Romeo Racing C39 in the second practice session.
Kimi Raikkonen (FIN) Alfa Romeo Racing C39 in the second practice session.
© xpbimages.com

Kimi Raikkonen has downplayed his dramatic-looking fire which caused second practice for Formula 1’s season-ending Abu D💧habi Grand Prix to be red-flagged.

The teams long-runs were interrupted with just under 20 🌳minutes of FP2 remaining on Friday at the Yas Marina Circuit as Raikkonen came to a halt when flames engulfed the back of his Alfa Romeo.

Raikkonen pulled over by a fire marshals post and clambered out of his burning car, before leaping into action by grabbing a nearby fire extinguisher ಌto help the marshals tackle the significant blaze that had developed towards the rear of his C39.

The Finn was warned over team radio by his engineer that “you have🐓 a big fire - get the hell out of there quick” as he slowed to stop by the side of the track before swiftly extracting himself from the car, despite being briefly held up by his radio wire becoming tangled.

It came just two weeks after the scary, fiery scenes witnessed in Romain Grosjean’s huge crash in Bahౠrain, but Raikkonen was typically unfazed by his own incident.

Asked if the experience had been scary, Raikkonen💟 replied: “No, there was nothing scary about it.

“It was just a shame it catches on fire and then ob💯viously it gets all messy afterwards with trying to put the fire out. It’s on✱e of those things.”

Raikkonen did not speculate on the damage caused by the 😼fire which continued to smoulder for some time after his stoppage, but revealed the team wa𝕴s already planning to change his gearbox and engine from Saturday anyway.

“I don’t speculate [on the damage],” he explained. “We will see. For sure the♏re is some damage, hopefully it’s mainly bodywork, but we’ll see. Obviously it’s a different engine ꦬand gearbox that we run tomorrow. It’s just a bit more work for the guys.”

Kimi Raikkonen (FIN) Alfa Romeo Racing C39 on fire in the second practice session.
Kimi Raikkonen (FIN) Alfa Romeo Racing C39 on fire in the second practice session.
© xpbimages.com

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