“Leave me alone. I know what to do,” said Kimi Raikkonen to his engineer. The Finnish driver is a man of few words but makes every one of them count, known for living his life the way he liked. Remember the 2006 Monaco GP? Raikkonen’s car caught fire, and he had to retire. However, instead of going back to the paddock, he went straight to his yacht and got himself a chilled drink. Now, his fun attitude is what faced criticism as Lewis Hamilton set the tone. But what was the criticism about?

The current breed of F1 drivers is all about fitness and making sure that they are in perfect condition to meet the demands of the sport. However, back in the day, this wasn’t the case. Drivers like James Hunt were brilliant on track but tended to enjoy themselves off it. Kimi Raikkonen belonged to that breed himself. The memories of the Finn being hammered at an FIA award ceremony are still super fresh in everyone’s mind. 

Lewis Hamilton, on the other hand, is the ideal F1 driver that people have in their minds. Restricted diet, no alcohol, harsh training, ice baths, and just about everything else to keep himself in check. F1 expert Peter Windsor took a jab at Raikkonen’s fun nature and suggested he had no control over his career. And eventually, the fun led to the conclusion of his career. 

On his YouTube channel, Peter Windsor said, “I’ve said this before. I think by the time he [Kimi Raikkonen] got to Ferrari, he was about a tenth or so off his very best at McLaren. We’re talking about one lap [pace]. And he’s gone a little bit slower after that. Yes, still a very good racing driver when things were right, but then he kind of backed into it. He really lost focus, I think.”

Talking about the different approaches of Hamilton and Raikkonen, Windsor said, “There’s no way Kimi [Raikkonen] like Lewis [Hamilton] was in charge, was in control of his career, thinking I want to be this good in five years’ time. How am I going to do that? He just took every day as it came and had fun in between. That’s what did the damage in the end.”

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Regardless, most of the stories of Kimi Raikkonen off the track seem to be about how he had way too many drinks. F1 presenter Karun Chandhok had one such story to tell. 

“I want a curry”: Hammered Kimi Raikkonen makes insane request to Karun Chandhok 

We all know that Kimi likes to have his drink. It was clearly displayed when he got angry at Ferrari for not having his drink connected. The one story that stands out when talking about drunk Kimi Raikkonen has to be Karun Chandhok’s experience with the Finn in Tokyo. Raikkonen asked Chandhok to take him out for a curry late at night in the Japanese capital. 

Karun Chandhok said, “Well, he came up [to me]. It was bizarre because we were in a bar in Tokyo after the race, and it was at some ridiculous time in the morning. And he obviously had a lot of clear liquid. But he just came up to me and said, ‘I want a curry. Take me somewhere.’ And I just stood there and went, ‘I haven’t spoken to you in a decade, but sure, we could go to dinner. That’ll be fun.’ Then, when I said I didn’t know any curry restaurant in Tokyo, he put me in a headlock, wrestled me into the ground, and then just walked off.”

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