"I was having a shit": When Kimi Raikkonen gave a hilarious reason for missing out on presentation by Pele

Former F1 world champion Kimi Raikkonen once gave a hilarious reason for missing a presentation by soccer legend Pele at the 2006 Brazilian GP. The Finnish driver was one of a kind as a driver and a personality, loved by fans and drivers alike for his no-nonsense approach to media activities.

He made a name for himself as a fast and uncompromising driver on the track and attracted plenty of eyeballs during his McLaren years from 2002 to 2006.

Ferrari poached Raikkonen in the latter half of 2006 to replace the departing Michael Schumacher, who had announced his retirement from the sport. In his farewell race at Interlagos, the seven-time F1 world champion was honored by Brazilian football legend Pele for his contribution to the sport in a presentation.

During Martin Brundle's iconic 'Grid Walk', the former F1 driver asked him about the reqson behind his absence from the presentation to which Kimi Raikkonen gave a hilarious response, saying:

"I was having a shit"

The response stunned the F1 pundit who moved on hilariously from the driver to continue on with his segment.

Michael Schumacher in his press conference at Monza in 2006 had spoken highly of the then McLaren driver and was "pleased" that the latter was replacing him, saying:

"In a way my future replacement it's a driver, at some stage, the team will tell, but I always was pleased and I know a long time ago to hear that he was the person."

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Former F1 driver compared the careers of Michael Schumacher and Kimi Raikkonen

Former F1 driver David Coulthard stated that he believed that Kimi Raikkonen could have "won more titles" if he had the same "work ethic" as former seven-time F1 world champion Michael Schumacher.

While appearing on Red Flags Podcast, the former McLaren driver said:

“He’s the outlier in all of that. He was just a great, natural talent. He went from Formula Renault to driving a Sauber at Mugello. Mugello is one of the proper scary race tracks 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 McLaren reliability and all that stuff. If he had the work ethic of Michael, I think he would have won more."

He added:

“Michael was at the test track, he was at the factory. If you’re there standing over engineers and mechanics, they feel it, it empowers them. 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 – a multiple world champion.”

Raikkonen won his sole world championship in 2007 and still remains Ferrari's last driver's champion.