Kimi Räikkönen gives Lotus t-shirts featuring his radio messages
Less than a week after his exploits in the Emirates, the Finnish driver continues to spread positive vibes among the Lotus staff: while his race engineer has been dressed for winter, the team employees will be dressed for summer.
In the realm of noteworthy events at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, Kimi Räikkönen’s victory sealed the fate of a race that many already consider legendary in Formula 1. But, more anecdotally, it was the radio communications between the Finnish driver and the Lotus team’s pit that entertained.
Indeed, on at least two occasions during the race, the driver gave relatively unsympathetic responses to basic communications: for instance, when his engineer, Simon Rennie, informed him of the gaps with his pursuer, Fernando Alonso, the Finn replied, “Leave me alone, I know what I’m doing.” Later, during the safety car, when he was asked to make sure to properly heat his tires, the response was equally sharp: “Yes yes yes yes! I do it all the time, you don’t have to remind me every second.” Radio messages that could also claim entry into the legend of the discipline as they have been frequently replayed.
But, as often, Kimi Räikkönen didn’t stop there. So, on Friday morning, imagine the surprise of the Enstone factory employees when they discovered in their mail a package containing nearly 500 t-shirts. On these garments, in the team’s black and gold colors, a phrase: “Leave me alone, I know what I’m doing.” A gesture reminiscent of the Malaysian Grand Prix at the beginning of the season, during which the Espoo native had ice cream delivered to the entire press room, in memory of the famous 2009 Malaysian Grand Prix.
The story does not say whether the mechanics and staff of Lotus will wear these t-shirts for the Texas weekend in Austin, but for Eric Boullier, it is certain that “Leave me alone, I know what I’m doing” has already become a Formula 1 classic.
