Flav: Let Kimi drink!

Renault F1 boss Flavio Briatore is one of Formula One's few remaining characters, but the Italian is keen to ensure that the sport does not strangle the last drops of individuality out of everyone involved.

As if to prove his point, Briatore, who spends as much time in the society and gossip columns as he does in the paddock, has said that he would have little problem coping with the excesses of one particular driver of late - provided the star in question continued to perform on track.

Lamenting the demise of personalities in an increasingly mundane pit-lane, Briatore admits that the antics of Kimi Raikkonen - who has been accused of being 'drunk and disorderly' on three separate occasions in recent months - gave him cause to smile. And, while McLaren has voiced its public displeasure at the Finn's exploits, the more flamboyant Italian says that he would have handled matter differently.

"If Raikkonen was my driver and he went to a club for a drink and some fun, I would have no problem with that," Briatore told Britain's Sunday Telegraph newspaper, "We have to understand that a young driver is not a robot. As long as he is not drinking the night before a race, why not?

"You go back to drivers like Nelson Piquet, who was a normal guy, to Gerhard Berger, Riccardo Patrese, Nigel Mansell. Now the kids look like they are fabricated. They're all the same. I don't recognise 60 per cent of them out of their overalls. I used to know them all - now I can't even pronounce some of their names!

"You don't want drivers to be like book-keepers. A driver needs to have a personality. What Raikkonen did is like a breath of fresh air. Maybe he should be given a drink before he speaks to the press in future!"