McLaren looks into Kimi story

Team boss Martin Whitmarsh admitted at the roll-out of the new McLaren MP4-20 in Barcelona that he had spoken to his star driver about the incident, which was reported in the Sunday People, and that the team plans to investigate it to establish the truth.

"Kimi's here, he's at the test and he's in good nick," said Whitmarsh. "I'm aware of the media coverage and it's not welcome for him or the team. As with many of these kind of articles it may not be wholly accurate and it is his private life.

Whitmarsh admitted that whether or not it was true, stories of this nature reflect poorly on the team's image.

"Kimi is focussed and I've spoken to him, we take it seriously, and we have to establish what the truth is. As I've said these things can be exaggerated as I believe this has been but the perception can be really negative. Multi-national brands don't invest in F1 for this type of imagery.

"Perhaps there was a touch of naivety and Kimi's learning that he has to be ultra-sensitive about having fun in a public place."

Raikkonen told Reuters that what happens in his private life had nothing to do with how fast he drives a car. "I know where you are trying to go now but it doesn't make me any slower," he said. "It's my private life so what I do in the car is completely different because I am for sure giving everything that I can to the team."

"It's part of life," he added. "You cannot always believe all the things in the newspaper. It's not the first time for me and you just get used to it after a while."