Kimi Raikkonen had an altercation with a drunken fan in the paddock of the Spa-Francorchamps circuit, which hosts this weekend’s Belgian Grand Prix.
The incident occurred in the central area between all of the F1 teams’ hospitality units. Raikkonen was approached by the fan, who was wearing an orange Max Verstappen cap, when a short argument broke out.
Onlookers say the fan was waving his arms around in the direction of the 2007 world champion and shouting with a raised voice, prompting Raikkonen to lightly push him away.
Some idiot in the paddock today decided to accost Kimi and have a stand up row! It’s no wonder that drivers sometimes feel they have to avoid fans. People like this spoil it for all of us. Still, maybe it fired Kimi up. P7 in FP2 💪 pic.twitter.com/FmP79tMBEa
— Kimi Räikkönen #bwoah (@Kimi7iceman) August 30, 2019
Raikkonen quickly walked away from the incident before it escalated further.
“He was a bit drunk,” Raikkonen told Ziggo Sport shortly afterwards. “He started waving his hands in front of me and started hitting my glasses. I thought ‘what the f— is he doing’… He was a bit tipsy toe. I have no idea what he was doing.”
Raikkonen’s participation in this weekend’s race was in doubt ahead of Friday’s practice.
The Finn pulled a muscle in his leg, forcing Alfa Romeo to call on reserve driver Marcus Ericsson to be on standby for the weekend — the Swedish driver had to miss this weekend’s IndyCar race in Portland as a result.