“It feels a lot different” - Kimi Raikkonen on driving a NASCAR car at COTA

Kimi Raikkonen is set to make his return to NASCAR for the second round, driving the No. 91 Trackhouse Racing Chevy.

Raikkonen made his Cup debut in August at Watkins Glen, starting 27th and finishing 37th after being involved in an incident exiting the bus stop chicane.

This weekend, he'll be competing with fellow F1 World Champion Jenson Button for the first time since the 2017 Monaco Grand Prix. In qualifying, their lap times were barely 0.033s apart, with Raikkonen qualifying 22nd and Button 24th.

On Saturday, Raikkonen spoke with the media about his ongoing learning curve as he competes against the best in stock car racing. He said:

"It’s the same track but it feels a lot different in an F1 car to a NASCAR car. A lot of the corners are more kind of straights in F1 because of the downforce. It gets a bit trickier in a NASCAR car."

The Finn has two experienced teammates to depend on in Chastain and Daniel Suarez, both of whom won road races last year. He described the post-session briefings as "more casual" than what he was used to in Formula 1.

The cars are the same as in his last Cup race at Watkins Glen, but the rules package has been modified. For events on short tracks and road courses, NASCAR has removed a substantial amount of downforce from the cars.

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Kimi Raikkonen and Jenson Button gearing up for Circuit of The Americas challenge

Kimi Raikkonen and Jenson Button will race at the Circuit of The Americas on Sunday (March 26) and will start one after the other on the grid. Raikkonen qualified 22nd in his Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet, while Button will line up 24th in his Rick Ware Racing/SHR Ford.

The inaugural United States F1 Grand Prix was hosted at the Circuit of the Americas 11 years ago. Lewis Hamilton won the race, with Jenson Button and Kimi Raikkonen finishing fifth and sixth. Hamilton won the race again in 2014, with Button and Raikkonen finishing 12th and 13th, respectively.

Raikkonen has fond memories of Austin, where he won his last F1 race with Ferrari in 2018.

"The track is nice because it creates good racing. There are places you can overtake, and especially in F1, you don’t get a lot of circuits you can have a good race. People can actually overtake without the DRS, and it feels more like a normal older-style F1 racing," Raikkonen said.