A smile is a curve that sets everything straight, said American actress and comedienne Phyllis Diller who passed away last August. Kimi Raikkonen has his way with curves, especially those in a Formula 1 track, and in the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix he set the record straight.
He still won’t smile, though. Not even after claiming victory in Sunday’s race leading Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso and Red Bull’s Sebastian Vettel.
Not even when he beat them driving a Lotus, a car that may be the surprise of the season, but surely doesn’t come close to the prancing horse, never mind the reigning champion’s car.
That much is evident from the photos after the race: you won’t find a single one in which his facial expression comes close to even resembling a smile.
His nonchalant attitude continued in the post-race press conference interview, which was conducted by former F1 driver David Coulthard. As is customary, the first question was directed to the winner.
All David wanted to know was Kimi’s emotions after winning for the first time since the 2009 Belgian GP.One would expect something like “great”, “it’s nice to be back”, etc.
“Not much, really”, Raikkonen bluntly responded. “Last time you guys was giving me shit because I didn’t really smile enough, so maybe this time again”, he added when Coulthard pressed on.
Then he continued about how he was happy about the team and so on, with Coulthard moving on to second-placed Alonso, who clipped his difference to Vettel to 10 points, and to the leader who had an amazing (and lucky) race and will fight it out with the Spaniard for the title in the two remaining races.
It seems that, a) Raikkonen hasn’t earned the “Iceman” nickname for nothing and b) he doesn’t give a dime about political correctness or what the world thinks of him, as long as he wins.
By Andrew Tsaousis
PHOTO GALLERY
