'There was nothing scary about it' – Raikkonen unfazed by sizeable FP2 fire

After the scary fire that followed Romain Grosjean’s big crash in Bahrain, you could forgive Kimi Raikkonen for being a little edgy after the rear of his Alfa Romeo was consumed by flames midway through Friday’s second practice session in Abu Dhabi. But perhaps unsurprisingly, F1’s very own Iceman was completely undaunted by the incident, which caused a 10-minute red flag stoppage to the session.

“You have a big fire – get the hell out of there quick,” was the call from Raikkonen’s engineer as the Finn parked up. Raikkonen followed the instructions before taking a keen interest in putting out the fire, instructing marshals where to spray before taking hold of an extinguisher himself.

Asked if the experience had been scary, given it initially looked like he’d been incumbered climbing out by his radio wire, Raikkonen nonchalantly replied: “No, there was nothing scary about it. It was just a shame it catches on fire and then obviously it gets all messy afterwards with trying to put the fire out. It’s one of those things.”

READ MORE: Bottas leads Hamilton under the lights in FP2 in Abu Dhabi as Verstappen takes P3

Asked how much damage had been caused, Raikkonen didn’t want to be drawn, though he did say the team had been intending to give him a different gearbox and engine from Saturday onwards anyway.

“I don’t speculate [on the damage],” he said. “We will see. For sure there is some damage, hopefully it’s mainly bodywork, but we’ll see. Obviously it’s a different engine and gearbox that we run tomorrow. It’s just a bit more work for the guys.”

Raikkonen is hoping to end the year on a high after a run of two 15th place finishes and one P14 since finishing ninth at Imola.