Kimi Raikkonen accidentally knocked down a toddler while trying to avoid signing an autograph back in 2008.
Raikkonen is one of the greatest F1 drivers of all time. The Finn won the 2007 World Championship with Ferrari, and to this date remains the Scuderia’s last World Champion.
Other than his driving skills, Raikkonen was also a fan favorite because of his unique personality. He was known for his blunt honesty and distaste towards appearing for media interviews. Sometimes, however, people saw his behavior as disrespectful. One such incident occurred back in 2008 when he caused controversy by knocking a photographer down.
#OnThisDay 9 years ago: Kimi Raikkonen becomes an #F1 world champion – beating Hamilton & Alonso by ONE point >> https://t.co/MmeTvTfW6t
— Formula 1 (@F1) October 21, 2016
At Silverstone, the Iceman was seen assaulting a photographer. As reigning World Champion, he was under a lot of fire for losing his temper and taking it out on a photographer, regardless of the reason behind his actions.
A more controversial incident, however, took place at Hockenheim later that year, when he accidentally knocked a young girl down.
Also read: Kimi Raikkonen rejected move to Toyota in 2009 after F1 team failed to match his $45 million salary
Kimi Raikkonen accidentally hits young girl while trying to avoid autograph
Raikkonen does not like attending signing autographs or attending photoshoots. On top of that, 2008 was a season which saw the Finnish driver suffer a major dip in form, in spite of winning the previous year’s World Championship.
Ahead of the 2008 German GP, a woman approached Raikkonen while the latter was walking into the paddock for the race. She had a pen in one hand, and a folder which she wanted Raikkonen to sign. The $250 million worth Ferrari star however, did not want to entertain her and tried to avoid her.
Unfortunately while trying to avoid the woman, the folder accidently struck a young girl who was next to her. She got hurt, fell onto the floor and started crying. Raikkonen did not stop to check on her however, but pointed to the woman that the kid fell down.
This generated a lot of controversy, with people calling for Raikkonen to not be so arrogant. He did not want to sign the woman’s autograph, but Raikkonen evidently did not hurt the toddler intentionally.
Raikkonen finished third in the 2008 season, behind eventual winner Lewis Hamilton and teammate Felipe Massa.
