The 'Angry Birds' role in F1 champion's signing talks with shock team

A former F1 boss has revealed how he nearly signed Formula 1 champion Kimi Raikkonen...and how the founders of 'Angry Birds' were involved.

The Finn won the world drivers' championship with Ferrari in 2007 and eventually left the team in 2009, with his F1 career on a brief pause before he signed with Lotus for the 2012 season.

However, according to former F1 boss Otmar Szafnauer, who was a central leadership figure at Force India during this time, he attempted to sign the 'Iceman', in what would have been a shock to move to then underperforming team.

Speaking on the High Performance Racing podcast, Szafnauer claimed: "Nearly signed Kimi Raikkonen to Force India before he went to Lotus.

"Brazil... last race. I had to meet Kimi at the Hyatt in Morumbi. There's a Japanese restaurant there, so I met him with two of his buddies, trying to convince him to come to Force India. So he says, 'OK, end of the season, come and talk to me.'"

READ MORE: Verstappen makes major career announcement at Nurburgring 24 Hours race

A brief history of Raikkonen and Angry Birds

Those two friends in question? Allegedly the two founders of video game series 'Angry Birds', who, at least Jaakko Iisalo, are coincidentally also Finnish.

Szafnauer continued: "His two buddies, I think were the founders of Angry Birds. So there wasn't a manager... it was the buddies and Raikkonen.

"Raikkonen says, 'Right, let's go talk at the Red Bull party.' Red Bull were having a massive party at the end of the season. And we get there, and I'm thinking we're not going to get in, the crowds are huge... Kimi waited for every one of us to get in before he stepped through."

"As it turned out, I couldn't convince him to come to Force India. It was a bit of everything. I mean, you have to convince drivers too that the future looks rosier than the other offers that they have. And to be fair to him, he went to Lotus at a time where they won more races than we did. So they were better."

The 'Angry Birds' story certainly fits, especially given the sponsorship deals Raikkonen struck with the video game when he returned to F1, and in 2012, the 'Angry Birds Star Wars' game featured on the sidepods of his and Romain Grosjean's Lotus at the United States Grand Prix.

In the same year, it was also announced that Raikkonen struck a merchandise deal with Rovio Entertainment (the developer behind Angry Birds), collaborating on a range of co-branded clothing that accompanied the 'Angry Birds Space' franchise.

Indeed, on his return to F1, Raikkonen wore the 'Ice Bird' design on his cap, both a nod to his 'Iceman' persona and the video game.

READ MORE: Verstappen Nurburgring 24 Hours victory hopes crushed as technical issue confirmed

Related

More F1 news

Latest F1 news

Lando Norris shouldn't have apologised and Baku controversy is everything wrong with F1

• 48 minutes ago

Max Verstappen to step away from F1 for GT return

• 1 hour ago

British driver set for penalty that will see him start LAST at the Bahrain Grand Prix

• 2 hours ago

F1 star reveals why drivers don't want to race in Italy finale

• 3 hours ago

Aston Martin are 'here to win' but Lawrence Stroll is powerless to make it happen

• Today 13:57

Ferrari have given Lewis Hamilton's boss their backing and that's bad news for him

• Today 12:50