Lotus F1 driver
Kimi Raikkonen enjoyed his outing in the ice race in Russia last weekend.
The 'Race of Stars' event took place at the Moscow Hippodrome, with Raikkonen the headline act amongst those drivers invited to take part. New Caterham signing and fellow 2013 F1 driver Charles Pic was also in action, as was Qatar M-Sport WRC star Evgeny Novikov.
The two F1 drivers took part in the promotional 'Super Finals', which featured sports cars built by
Renault in Russia. They then went head-to-head with the best of the Russians with Touring Car racer Kirill Ladygin eventually coming out top after Dmitry Bragin was disqualified.
“It was good to be back on an ice track after a while away. It made a change from Barcelona and my regular F1 car!” said Raikkonen, who has significant experience of driving on ice; and not just from his days back in Finland. The 2007 F1 World Champion competed in the
World Rally Championship for two seasons in 2010 and 2011 and finished eighth overall on the Swedish Rally in 2011.
“You need a very different driving style on ice; you have to be very smooth on the throttle and brakes and feed the steering in, but a small drift can also be pretty fun," he continued. "I enjoyed it, particularly seeing so many fans out here.”
Pic meanwhile also gave the event, which was organised in conjunction with
Za Rulem, one of Russia's most popular automotive magazines, the thumbs up.
“I enjoyed the day with
Renault and it was cool to be part of such a big event. This was my first time driving on ice and it was great fun," he added.
"I tried out the
Renault Duster, which was fitted with snow tyres. It was an experience and tricky to find the grip on the slippery surface. Then I tried out the Logan with the studded tyres and it was even harder! It took a few laps to get up to speed but once I got used to it I enjoyed it. Thanks to
Renault and everyone who came out in the cold to see the event!”