We're going to go slightly offbeat for this feature this week, as Kimi Raikkonen only tested a British F3 Championship racer because his management, and the team that ran him for the day, wanted him not to contest the following year's series.

Carlin Motorsport chief Trevor Carlin and engineer 'Boyo' Hieatt had been big pals with the Finn's managers David and Steve Robertson since running Robertson Jr in F3 in the 1980s and early '90s.

Back in September 2000, the team's Takuma Sato was making waves in British F3 and had already committed to Carlin for '01. Meanwhile, Raikkonen had cleaned up in Formula Renault UK and an agreement was in place for him to graduate with Manor Motorsport to F3.

When an opportunity for Raikkonen to test for the Sauber F1 team arose, the Robertsons, Carlin and Hieatt viewed this as the perfect chance to avoid a potentially damaging rivalry in 2001.

"Steve didn't want to put Kimi up against Taku," says Hieatt. "He'd dominated Renault and they didn't want a stalling year in F3. And me and Trevor were happy to help, because we didn't want Kimi competing against Taku.

"Our F3 Dallaras used the same Magneti Marelli logging as the Sauber, so it was a good chance to get Kimi familiar with the dash and get a taste of more downforce. We went to Pembrey. It was our first test with new engine maps for Honda and Taku had driven it the day before. It understeered a bit but we thought we could live with it.

"On the second day, Taku drove the other car, doing tyre development for Kumho, who were thinking of coming into F3. When Kimi went out Taku totally overdrove, kept going off and Trevor had to have a chat with him.

"It took Kimi four laps to get on the pace. Typical of him – he didn't say much and off he went for his F1 test. I don't think he liked the F3 car much – it had an H-pattern gearbox and it had too much understeer. But he was matching Taku's pace. It was a bit damp though, so it wasn't the neck-breaking day we'd hoped for."

Four years later, Raikkonen and the Robertsons put up the capital for Hieatt to start his own team. Although Hieatt is now the outright owner of Double R Racing, he remains friends with them. "To this day I don't believe there's a more naturally talented driver than Kimi who ever lived," he says.