Raikkonen got a job at the automobile company Zeekr, which produces electric cars and is owned by Geely, reports the Finnish publication Helsingin Sanomat. The Formula 1 champion’s job title is “performance consultant”, but what exactly he will do at Zeekr is not yet known. According to unofficial data, the pilot will be fine-tuning the flagship model 001 FR.
44-year-old Kimi Raikkonen announced his retirement from driving two years ago. Before this, the Finn competed in Formula 1: he won the championship title in 2007, was second twice, in 2003 and 2005, and finished third three times, in 2008, 2012 and 2018. A few days earlier, it became known that the former racer was planning to move from Switzerland, where he has been living for some time, to Italy to help develop the career of his eight-year-old son Robin Ace Mathias Raikonnen. Italian media wrote that Raikkonen purchased a luxurious estate and farmhouse in Como.
Now new information has appeared, according to which Raikonnen was hired by the Chinese brand Zeekr – electric cars of this brand are also sold in Russia, but it is not officially represented on our market. It is likely that the duties of the former Formula 1 pilot will include fine-tuning the driving characteristics of the “charged” 001 with the FR prefix – an electric car with four motors that develop a total of 1,265 horsepower.
Zeekr claims that the 001 FR accelerates to 100 kilometers per hour in 2.37 seconds, and when starting with the initial rotation of the wheels (using an unknown method), the same jerk takes the electric car 2.07 seconds. The maximum speed of the Zeekr 001 FR is electronically limited to 180 kilometers per hour. In the first 15 seconds since the model began accepting orders, customers reserved 99 copies of the Zeekr 001 FR.
Electroshock: new “battery-powered” products
