Kimi Raikkonen: Alfa Romeo driver out of Dutch GP after testing positive for Covid-19
- Published
Kimi Raikkonen won the 2007 Formula 1 world championship title with Ferrari
Alfa Romeo driver Kimi Raikkonen has tested positive for Covid-19 and will miss this weekend's Dutch Grand Prix.
The 41-year-old Finn, who this week announced he will retire from F1 at the end of the season, will be replaced by reserve driver Robert Kubica.
Alfa Romeo said: "Kimi is displaying no symptoms and is in good spirits. He has immediately entered isolation"
Kubica last raced at the end of the 2019 season for Williams but has tested for Alfa a number of times this year.
An Alfa Romeo spokesman said: "We ran a thorough close contacts check and I'm glad to say there is no further impact to our operations for the rest of the weekend."
F1's governing body the FIA has strict Covid protocols which require the immediate isolation and then retesting of anyone designated a close contact of someone who has a positive test result.
Alfa said that "all close contacts have been sorted according to the FIA protocols".
Williams chief executive officer and team principle Jost Capito had dinner with Raikkonen on Friday night and, as a close contact, is now isolating in his hotel room.
F1 applies the national guidelines of the country in which the individual race is being held and in the Netherlands the requirement is only to have to isolate as a close contact if a person is not vaccinated.
The vast majority of F1 personnel have received a Covid-19 vaccine.
Raikkonen is the seventh F1 driver to contract coronavirus since the start of the pandemic.
The first was Mexican Sergio Perez, who missed two races early in the delayed 2020 season when he was driving for Racing Point.
His team-mate Lance Stroll followed in October, before seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton missed the penultimate race of the season when he caught it.
Hamilton last month spoke of his belied that he was still suffering the after-effects of the infection - so-called 'long Covid' in terms of tiredness and an effect on his training.
McLaren driver Lando Norris, Ferrari's Charles Leclerc and AlphaTauri's Pierre Gasly all contracted the disease during the off-season while training in Dubai.
A number of senior figures, including Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff, Aston Martin team owner Lawrence Stroll and Alfa Romeo team boss Frederic Vasseur have also tested positive.
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