Montreal, Canada - Kimi Raikkonen will fly into a legal storm in Montreal on Wednesday after a waitress filed a $1 million (R12.76 million) lawsuit against him over accusations of sexual misconduct after the 2016 Canadian Grand Prix.
She claims the 2007 Formula One world champion touched her breasts while he was drunk in a bar. The woman first made allegations online in 2016, though she did not name the Ferrari driver at the time. Earlier in 2018, however, the waitress posted a follow-up story saying she had protected the driver for long enough and, in April, she gave her side of the story to police.
Raikkonen denies the claims and alleges he is the victim of blackmail. His lawyers, who have lodged an extortion counterclaim, said: "Our client makes it clear that everything this woman does is illegal."
But Jamie Benizri, founder of Legal Logik, the firm representing the accuser, told
: "It is not a question of cashing out and running to the bank. It is a question of trying to understand what happened in 2016."
He said Raikkonen’s complaint was "like trying to kill an ant with a bazooka".
Ferrari president Sergio Marchionne said: "We investigated the case internally and know that Kimi is not involved. We stand behind him and are ready to defend him at all costs."