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Kimi Raikkonen's trainer has confirmed that the Ferrari driver dropped weight over the winter. The Finn recently dismissed a reporter who noticed that the 38-year-old was looking slimmer and fitter in 2019
But Raikkonen's long time physio Mark Arnall admitted: "The winter season this year was about getting Kimi's weight down. This winter I managed to get 3.2 kilograms off Kimi. He now weighs just 70kg," he told Iltalehti newspaper.
Arnall said F1 engineers ask for drivers to be as light as possible: "If they want the front of the car to turn better, they want more weight at the front. If they want more grip to the rear tyres, they shift the weight back. And if the driver weighs too much, it doesn't work," he said.
Grand Prix of Belgium
C. Sainz jr
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Replies (8)
Login to replymcbhargav
Posts: 1,332
I wonder whats the weight of the other drivers.
ajpennypacker
Posts: 2,475
I think his weight loss was obvious to everyone. I still don't understand why Kimi got all worked up when Maurizio Arrivabene pointed it out.
Hepp
Posts: 200
I think Kimi was surprised by Maurizio Arrivabene's statement thinking that that would be a team matter and not be made public knowledge. After all, Kimi is a very private kind of guy.
calle.itw
Posts: 8,527
He is, but when you are an athlete, stats like weight isnt really private stuff anymore. I mean Ericsson is also a pretty private kinda dude, yet he has been quite honest about his "weight problem". These guys are so slim that they probably cant risk walking on wooden floor in case there is a gap between the planks.
ajpennypacker
Posts: 2,475
I think the difference is that Ericsson is an easy-going guy who loves his job, whereas Kimi is a perpetually depressed and dissatisfied asshole. It's so silly because that change in weight was obvious to everyone. It's not secret.
Norbert
Posts: 108
Okay he may be depressed but Kimi is not asshole. Like Ricciardo, he comes up with the Zen sayings from time to time. Really, who can understand what Kimi says in English, but it was something like this: Sometimes I have successes. Sometimes I have failures. I try to feel the same about each of them.
TimberVD
Posts: 42
70Kg, wow. That's quite low actually. That's like 5% body fat and 5Kg of neck muscle, for sure. Not a problem if you are of miniature stature, but poor Hartley, sometimes I think he looks like a size 0 model with a fat neck! He just doesn't look healthy to me. But there we go.
Norbert
Posts: 108
Personal stats like that are normal. Same with player salaries. Typical? Alonso camp reported he ran 500k, biked 1200k, and swam 67k or something? Who knows - over the winter? It was a lot of exercise and I am sure he wasn’t alone. A driver’s weight is very important. Lewis gave the stats once. You wouldn’t want to walk up to an older fashion model after a show and say, “Hey, looking trim, heard ya lost a few pounds. Good for you.” And F1 drivers are like models. Basically they are also models as well as drivers. Some sensitivity is needed when approaching the weight issue.