There is an interview with Kimi in Italian magazine "Motocross": Kimi Raikkonen tells his love for our sport and much more: "I've always wanted to do motocross but I went to 4 wheels. Looking back, I must say it was probably the choice... "
Quote: Bradamante wrote in post #192Me too. For a while I thought I was reading an interview to Ron Dennis. He has even "designed" the truck of his team himself.
yeah I was surprised too. It all sounded so different when he talks as the boss
ok first part I can translate more tomorrow evening so we can split it then maybe?
quoteThe Iceman of IceOne
We have long followed him, since he had set foot almost incognito in a GP of Finland a few years ago. He never gave interviews to the press of the Motocross world, perhaps because was reserved as by nature all Finns are a bit. Of his past and present in Formula 1 almost everything is known, what instead wasn't known yet, is his role as owner of Team RedBull Husqvarna lceOne. Exclusively for us, Kimi Raikkonen tells about his love for our sport.
The paddock is awakening, the first bikes have not yet entered the track, even if it is already a while since you can hear the noise of the zanzarine 125 two steps outside the tents of the European Championship team. Still sleepy, I headed to the Red Bull hospitality in the morning, especially when you are away from home, it provides invaluable support in the form of caffeine and warm croissants to those that are about to experience an intense day of work. Just as I'm about to cross the threshold, I drop the eye of a curious scene: Antti Pyrhonen, driving the service motorcycle used in the paddock, is crossing the central avenue of Villars sous Ecot, with a strange passenger, wrapped up in his dark hoodie and sunglasses. Curious, I decided to follow them into the tent of Husqvarna lceOne, in front of which is a fine show of a brand new Ferrari FF, Swiss number plate: no doubt about it, it's Kimi Raikkonen, Ferrari driver and former Formula 1 World Champion and owner of the team directed by Pyrhonen. After the introductions, I was invited inside the white tent to take a coffee with Kimi and get the first interview as "motocross guy" of the Finn.
How did your passion for Motocross start? "It's a sport that has always interested me, more or less with five years, before starting with the go-kart, I was doing motocross, I practiced at home on small tracks made by me and my brother. We destroyed the backyard, so my father, tired of our damage, bought go-karts and the garden was saved. But I always wanted to do motocross, a classmate of mine practiced at a good level and I admired very much, but I went to four wheels. Looking back I must say that it was probably the right choice (laughs). In the early 2000s, when I came to Formula 1, I bought an old Honda, I wanted to ride a bike and ride occasionally to train. Through that practice I fell in love again with motocross and it all arised from there, including the team.
Quote: Bradamante wrote in post #192Me too. For a while I thought I was reading an interview to Ron Dennis. He has even "designed" the truck of his team himself.
I’m depressed, because F1 and more specifically Kimi, gives me the break my mind needs to get away from it all. But since it has been so scarce lately I leaned towards one of my favorite TV shows NCIS-LA, which led me to an overdose of this: http://i2.listal.com/image/894111/600full-chris-odonnell.jpg And I guess some of you will understand why. Which, at least, it’s better for me than a gallon of ice-cream.
So, in order to get over my addiction to Chris O’Donnell, I will try to help out here to translate a couple more questions. (I'm trying to do it simultaneously, so you may have to ignore a couple, or more, mistakes)
quoteThe IceOne Team has been initially conceived as Finnish's Motocross excellence, with the attempt to make this sport grow in your country. The structure only used Finnish drivers and personnel, then some years after things have changed. “Looking back, I don’t think it was a good idea to have started that way, today I wouldn’t make that choice. Now everything’s perfect, as I want it, with Antii and Max, we are as I have always wanted it: if I could turn back time, I would change lots of things, because I’m a perfectionist. “At the beginning things weren’t going as I wanted them to. I wanted good motorcycles, good drivers, that only come along after you can demonstrate them to have an efficient structure. However, I needed to start somewhere, and maybe, if it hasn’t started like this, we wouldn’t be talking about this here today, so all in all, It’s OK.”.