F1 News, Reports and Race Results

Injured Raikkonen confirms reason for Ericsson's Spa recall

Kimi Raikkonen has confirmed that he's suffered a leg injury over the summer break, which is the reason why Alfa Romeo's reserve driver Marcus Ericsson has been summoned to Spa-Francorchamps this weekend.

Ericsson's sudden absence from his scheduled IndyCar race in Portland on Sunday had sparked rumours that he might be taking over from Antonio Giovinazzi at the Belgian Grand Prix. But in fact it's Raikkonen who is the driver in doubt.

"I pulled a muscle and we will see how it is," Raikkonen told reporters in the Formula 1 paddock on Thursday morning. "In my head it should be fine but you never know.

"We need to have some back-up plan," he continued when asked if this was the reason for Ericsson's change of plans. "There is a reason why every team has a third driver.

"It would be stupid not to have our third driver [here] in case I couldn’t be driving," he explained. "Then it is the worst case scenario!

"It is a normal story. It is a difficult situation for him also because he had a race, but that is how it is."

Ericsson's place in the the Schmidt Peterson Motorsports car for Sunday's IndyCar race will be taken by former GP3 driver Conor Daly.

The 28-year-old Swede, who previously raced in F1 first for Caterham and subsequently Sauber between 2014 and 2018, is hoping to extend his contract to stay in the US open wheel championship beyond the end of his rookie season.

However a sudden absence such as this weekend will not help his cause.

As for Raikkonen, the Finn was reluctant to go into the details of how he had sustained his leg injury - although he gave enough information to tease us with what might have happened.

"Sport. It is dangerous. I always said it is more dangerous," he said. "Drinking is probably safer. Usually you don't get injured, you just get a hangover."

Confirmation then that kicking back during a summer break can end up causing more injuries than speeding round a circuit at nearly 200mph!

Gallery: The beautiful wives and girlfriends of F1 drivers

Keep up to date with all the F1 news via Facebook and Twitter

Andrew Lewin

Andrew first became a fan of Formula 1 during the time when Michael Schumacher and Damon Hill were stepping into the limelight after the era of Alain Prost, Nigel Mansell and Aryton Senna. He's been addicted ever since, and has been writing about the sport now for nearly a quarter of a century for a number of online news sites. He's also written professionally about GP2 (now Formula 2), GP3, IndyCar, World Rally Championship, MotoGP and NASCAR. In his other professional life, Andrew is a freelance writer, social media consultant, web developer/programmer, and digital specialist in the fields of accessibility, usability, IA, online communities and public sector procurement. He worked for many years in magazine production at Bauer Media, and for over a decade he was part of the digital media team at the UK government's communications department. Born and raised in Essex, Andrew currently lives and works in south-west London.

Recent Posts

Sao Paulo GP: Saturday's action in pictures

Saturday's proceedings were cut short due to a heavy rain storm rolling into Sao Paulo…

57 mins ago

Sao Paulo GP qualifying postponed after repeated delays

The FIA has postponed Saturday’s Sao Paulo Grand Prix qualifying session due to adverse weather…

1 hour ago

McLaren: Team orders always ‘make life difficult for ourselves’

McLaren's successful 1-2 finish in the Brazilian Sprint race came with a dose of complexity,…

4 hours ago

Verstappen demoted to P4 following VSC infringement in Sprint

Max Verstappen has been demoted from third to fourth in the final standings of Saturday’s…

5 hours ago

Norris thanks Piastri for handing Sprint win, but not ‘proud’

Lando Norris secured victory in Saturday's Sprint event in Sao Paulo thanks to a McLaren…

6 hours ago

São Paulo GP: Norris handed sprint win by Piastri

McLaren clinched a valuable 1-2 sweep of the São Paulo sprint race, with polesitter Oscar…

7 hours ago