A Top Gear chief ‘lost it’ with the F1 world champion after he refused to complete more laps during a rainy day of filming.

Kimi Raikkonen of Lotus celebrates on the podium after winning the Abu Dhabi GP. (Image: Getty Images)

Former Top Gear executive producer Andy Wilman has lifted the lid on his backstage encounter with Kimi Raikkonen prior to the 2007 world champion’s comeback to Formula One with Lotus. The episode occurred between Raikkonen’s departure from Ferrari at the conclusion of the 2009 season and his F1 return in 2012.

The iconic Finn occupied his hiatus from F1 by racing in the World Rally Championship and making several outings in the NASCAR Truck Series. Prior to his F1 comeback with Lotus, Raikkonen featured on Top Gear, participating in a chat with Jeremy Clarkson before setting a time in the reasonably priced car. When questioned about his return, the Finn responded in characteristic style: “Very normal. Cars are the same, people are the same. Same story.”

Nevertheless, when it came to recording his laps, the segment took a turn for the worse. Sharing the tale on the Midweek F1 podcast, Wilman recalled: “Raikkonen came on the show. So everyone is doing their lap. His was a wet day. And we were like, ‘Oh, he’s not going to do it’. He’s like, ‘Okay’. But he’ll give it some, because it’s Kimi.

“It was when he came back with Lotus. And we were all like, ‘Oh, we are not worthy. You’re here. You’re here!’ I went down to see the guy with the timer, Nick Dalton, who had the watch out. I was like, ‘How’s he doing? How’s he doing?’ He went, ‘Not great.’

“So he goes into his motorhome, and he’s like, ‘I’ve done enough laps now’. He wasn’t unfriendly, but he’s just like, ‘It’s a rainy day’. I go into the motorhome after him. He’s in the, like, Lazy Boy chair, and it’s warm, and he’s fully sort of stretched out, like Joey from Friends.”

“I went, ‘Kimi, you know, it’s drying out now. I can’t tell you your time, but it wasn’t brilliant. We know you could go faster.’ And he went, ‘No, I can’t’. And we were like, ‘No, Kimi, it really is dry now’, and I said, ‘If you look out of the window, you’ll see it’s definitely getting drier’.

Kimi Raikkonen at Monza this year. (Image: Getty Images)

“And he, with hugely bad grace, upped himself to the window, and he went, ‘No, it isn’t’. I lost it with him a bit, and b******ed him, like, ‘There’s so many people here waiting to see you make a comeback, and that’ll be on you if you don’t do something!’”

“Then I thought, ‘What have I done?’ And then he got out, and he went and did a couple more laps and went a bit faster. But that was the day I told Kimi off.”