Ahead of the seventh round of the 2018 Formula One season, which will take place next weekend at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve in Montreal, Canadian media report a alleged sexual harassment case by Scuderia Ferrari Finnish driver Kimi Raikkonen. The 2007 Formula One world champion has been at the centre of some unusual allegations involving a waitress. A woman accuses the Ferrari driver of sexually molesting her in 2016 in the club “Velvet Speakeasy” when paying the bill. A lawsuit was issued back in April against Kimi, and his lawyer has filed counterclaim for blackmail and harassment.
“When I leaned over the table, he put his hand in my clothes and grabbed my right breast. At the same time, one of his companions caught my pants and touched my genitals” – the waitress wrote in October 2016 in a blog. At that time Kimi Raikkonen was not mentioned by name, she wrote only of “a Formula 1 driver”. Raikkonen’s lawyer Mathieu Piche-Messier added: “Our client denies everything he is accused of and makes it clear that everything this woman does is illegal.” According to Canadian media, the woman threatened the racer to go public if he did not pay a sum of seven-digit amount. The police in Montreal have not commented on the case so far.
Italian-Canadian executive and Ferrari president Sergio Marchionne said during a Capital Markets Day organised by the Fiat / Chrysler Group in Balocco, Italy: “We investigated the case internally and know that Kimi is not involved. We stand behind him and ready to defend him at all costs.” The chief executive officer of Chrysler Group LLC and chairman of Fiat SpA rules out that this strange case has any effect on Kimi’s employment with Ferrari, neither on the present nor on a possible one for 2019. The Maranello team is said to have one option to retain the services of Kimi for the upcoming season, which expires in the summer.
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