Raikkonen roasts F1 champions roundtable with epic takedown

Kimi Raikkonen was absent from last month’s distinguished F1 world champions roundtable that took place at the Goodwood Festival of Speed.

But leave it to the Iceman to crash the party without even showing up, dropping one cold, sarcastic jab last week in the comments section of F1’s account on Instagram: “Thanks for the invite!”

Raikkonen’s post, buried under the sport’s promo for its star-studded world champion discussion, instantly blew up – earning more than 28,000 likes and reminding everyone why the Finn’s wit has always been as sharp as his driving lines.

No Iceman at the Roundtable Without

Formula 1 staged that chat – which you can view on YouTube – at Goodwood to celebrate its 75th anniversary, wheeling out Alain Prost, Jackie Stewart, Emerson Fittipaldi, Mika Hakkinen, Mario Andretti, Nigel Mansell and Jacques Villeneuve.

Between them, they’ve got 14 titles, countless stories… and, apparently, no room for the sport’s last Ferrari world champion.

Why was Raikkonen left off the guest list? Perhaps organizers worried that the famously long-winded Finn would dominate the floor with his endless anecdotes and ceaseless chatter. Better safe than sorry!

What Could Have Been

Raikkonen, of course, needs no roundtable introduction. The 2007 World Champion delivered Ferrari’s most recent drivers’ crown and capped his 19-year career with 21 race wins and 103 podiums before retiring in 2021.

These days, he’s busy helping his son Robin cut his teeth in karting, surfacing publicly only when he feels like dropping a deadpan zinger.

Still, not everyone is convinced his career reached its true ceiling. Former teammate David Coulthard, speaking on the Red Flags podcast, offered a blunt take.

“He was just a great, great natural talent,” said the Scot.

“He went from Formula Renault to driving a Sauber at Mugello. Mugello is one of the proper scary race tracks that you can go around in a Grand Prix car. He just had so much talent.

“But can you imagine, he won one World Championship. And you could go, ‘Yeah, McLaren, reliability’, all that sort of stuff. But if he had the work ethic of Michael [Schumacher], I think he would have won more.

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“Because Michael was at the test track, he was at the factory. And if you’re there standing over engineers and mechanics, they feel it, it empowers them. You are the fuel that helps drive them forward.

“So I say this: I stand by work ethic. It’s the difference between being a humble, one-time World Champion, or what he could have been, which could have been a multiple World Champion.”

Whether or not Raikkonen should have been on stage at Goodwood, his Instagram cameo ensured the event won’t be remembered without him.

With one sarcastic remark, the Finn turned a gathering of seven legends into a supporting act.

After all, why sit at a roundtable when you can own the room from the comments section?

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