Tuesday August 12th, 2003

Finn Kimi Raikkonen took his mind off his fight for the Formula One World Championship and made the most of the sport's enforced summer break when he took on some of the world's top ice hockey players in a charity match.

Raikkonen, who lost his second place in the title race to Colombian rival Juan Pablo Montoya at the last race in Germany, did his best to forget about his fading title bid when he played against the Slovakian NHL players in Bratislava last week.

But after missing his two golden opportunities to score in front of a crowd of 9000 fans he admitted: "It was hard to adapt to how fast the game moved because I don't play much ice hockey these days, but all the players were very friendly and helped me out."

Raikkonen then got his own back on the ice hockey stars when he challenged them to a karting race - on ice - in the unofficial "Grand Prix of Bratislava" before heading off for a week away before the Hungarian Grand Prix next weekend.

Published at 13:38:13 GMT

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(03-11-2005): Australian GP Paddock Gossip (03-09-2005): Greece Finds Site for Formula One Track (03-09-2005): Red Bull Set to Get Honda Engines in 2006 (03-08-2005): Schumacher in Line for Sporting Oscars (03-07-2005): Daily Grapevine Sunday Analysis - Australia

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