KIMI AT ALFA ROMEO

SCHOOL TRIPS NEVER USED TO BE LIKE THIS.

There was always a long, bumpy coach ride to a working museum, where a cottage made from wattle and daub was the highlight. If you were lucky, you got to play with some tools in a workshop. But for this group of French children, they are experiencing the best school trip money can’t buy.

At this very moment, Thursday afternoon of the French Grand Prix, when they should actually be in a stuffy classroom learning about the nitrogen cycle, they are at the door of the Alfa Romeo motorhome, getting Kimi Räikkönen’s autograph. The time he is taking to sign every t-shirt, notepad and cap is eating into the tightly scheduled interview slot with F1 Racing. For every scrawl, he is avoiding questioning. But, as Kimi is finding, you can’t fairly give six kids a signature and deny the out-stretched arms of another two dozen.

In the past, Kimi has been known to actively bowl with the pleas of children.