Top Gear Boss 'Lost It' With F1 Driver After Incident During Appearance on Show
A former Top Gear executive producer has spoken out about his heated encounter with a Formula One legend while filming the hit show.
A decades after the iconic presenting trio of Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond, and James May announced that they would be leaving the show, Top Gear is still one of the most popular shows in BBC history.
Throughout the show's run with three hosts, several big names in F1 appeared as guests on the motoring television series, speaking about their time in the sport and competing in challenges.
The likes of Lewis Hamilton, Michael Schumacher, Daniel Ricciardo and many others appeared on the show over the years.
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But there is one driver that former Top Gear executive producer Andy Wilman has since admitted that he 'lost it' with in a heated incident.
Ahead of his return to F1 with Lotus, Kimi Raikkonen appeared on Top Gear for an interview with Clarkson before completing a lap in the reasonably priced car.
However, the lap didn't exactly go as the Top Gear producers would have liked, as Raikkonen failed to set an impressive time.
Sharing about the moment on the Midweek F1 podcast, former Top Gear executive producer Andy 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.'"
Due to his lacklustre times, Wilman approached Raikkonen to ask if he could do some more, especially now that conditions had dried out, only be to be stonewalled by the F1 veteran.
Wilman added: "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'."
Eventually, the producer had enough of Raikkonen's attitude and completely lost his head, demanding he make more of an effort in the challenge for his fans.
He confessed: "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."
Topics: Formula 1
Ben McCrum