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Kimi: The Ice Man

McLaren team boss Ron Dennis has confirmed that Kimi Raikkonen's acceptance of his Magny-Cours loss really was as cool as it first appeared

Raikkonen, just 22, amazed onlookers in France with the level-headed unemotional way in which he accepted his straight-on moment on oil at the Adelaide Hairpin, despite being within five laps of his first grand prix win.

Asked whether Raikkonen kicked a few rubbish bins behind closed doors, Dennis replied: "No, we kicked him! No, seriously, I've labelled him The Ice Man before and that's the way he is. I suspect that the real pain will have hit him later, when he was alone.

"I think the circumstances were such that you couldn't be hard on him. There was no oil flag and when you have a driver like Michael Schumacher behind you, then obviously he is going to take advantage of any opportunity you give him. Kimi's problem warned Michael and I'm sure that if Michael had been in front he would have face just the same problem as Kimi.

"In fact, I'm still a little bit sore about it. I think the Autosport photograph showed the situation, with Kimi's wheels on the rumble strip. As far as I'm concerned, Kimi was on the circuit and Michael overtook him. Michael has even said that he was waiting for the instruction to let Kimi back though again."

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