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Scuderia
Ferrari driver Kimi Raikkonen put a smile on the faces of 400
children yesterday morning (6 June) during a visit hosted by
Bridgestone Firestone Canada Inc. to the Coronation School in the
Côtes des Neiges area of Montreal, Canada.
Taking
a break from his preparations for the Canadian round of the FIA
Formula One World Championship, Raikkonen dropped in to the
elementary school where he was greeted in Finnish by the school
children, who are aged between five and eleven years old. The
visit started with a question and answer session with Sportsnet
presenter Louis Jean, during which Raikkonen spoke about his life
as a Formula One driver. He then answered several questions
directly from the children.
After
stepping down from the stage Raikkonen watched a miniature F1 race
demonstration put on by the school’s 2006 World Robotics
Championship winning team. The enthusiastic youngsters had made a
specially designed replica Ferrari car which they raced against
their own car. As the gracious hosts the children had
pre-programmed the Ferrari to win the race, despite starting
second on the grid to their own car!
Next
up in the busy programme of activities for the Finnish driver was
a demonstration in a F1 simulator and, after setting his own
fastest lap, Raikkonen offered advice to pupils as they too took
turns to set a time and see if there are any budding future
Formula One drivers. The morning ended with Raikkonen taking the
time to sign autographs.
Commenting
on the event Raikkonen said: “Thank you to all the pupils and
staff at the Coronation School for giving me such a warm welcome!
It was really nice that they learnt how to say ‘welcome’ in
Finnish. The children were quite young but even so they asked me
some good questions and I was very impressed with the Robotic
Team’s Ferrari car. They must have spent a lot of time and
effort making it and they even let me win! I hope the children
enjoyed my visit and that it gave them a little taste of what
Formula One is all about.”
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