Formula 1 motor racing legend Kimi Raikkonen is facing questions about the personal clothing brand he has launched with the Nazi-saluting ex-husband of Hollywood star Sandra Bullock.

The retired F1 star has partnered with Ms Bullock’s ex, businessman Jesse James, who was once pictured wearing a Waffen SS cap and giving a Hitler salute.

The Finnish driver, who left Grand Prix racing last year after a record 349 starts, has teamed up with Mr James’ biker fashion firm West Coast Choppers to launch his KIMI range of apparel.

Jesse James Nazis salute US Weekly 2010

Jesse James' Nazis salute (US Weekly)

But the former World Champion Raikkonen, 43, is facing questions about some of the clothing and accessories he is endorsing which feature a prominent Iron Cross image, particularly given Mr James’ past exploits.

Ms Bullock, who split with Mr James shortly the Nazi-picture was published, admitted she was deeply “shocked” and “sad” to see the “stupid, ignorant” photo.

She added: “This is not the man I married… Racism, anti-Semitism, sexism, homophobia, anything Nazi and a boatload of other things have no place in my life. ”

The Iron Cross featured in the KIMI by West Coast Choppers range appears to resemble the insignia adopted by the Nazis at the beginning of World War Two.

Originally a Prussian Army military decoration and also awarded in the First World War, the medal was appropriated by Adolf Hitler in 1939.

Raikkonen, who drove for McLaren, Ferrari, Lotus and Alfa Romeo during a glittering Formula One career, was seen wearing the iron cross image on a custom-made face covering at a race in 2020.

In the same season, he controversially remained standing when fellow racer Lewis Hamilton urged drivers to take the knee moments before opening Austrian Grand Prix in support of the Black Lives Matter campaign.
 

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Clothing with Iron Cross emblem

Raikkonen teamed up with US motor mechanic-turned-businessman Mr James’ company in 2019 to produce his KIMI range of apparel, including T-shirts, jackets and trainers.

In 2010, while his then-wife, Ms Bullock, was away filming her hit movie The Blind Side, Mr James embarked on an 11-month affair with Michelle McGee.

Ms McGee, a tatoo artist and model, is best-known for a magazine photoshoot the previous year in which she wore a swastika armband and who, according to her divorce papers, had a giant swastika tattooed on her stomach.

Mr James later claimed he regretted posing for the Nazi salute picture claiming it was intended as a “joke” .

In an interview in the United States, he said: “It makes me really sad seeing the photo and the way I look… I don’t even remember taking the photo but I can tell the look on my face, it was a joke that was funny then, just for a minute, but then looking at it in the context of now, my life, it’s not funny.”

On the West Coast Choppers website, James says of Raikkonen: “An icon that does things his way only comes around once a generation. Kimi is just that, an ‘icon’.

“Never compromising and only doing things his way. I’m very proud to be partnering with someone that shares the same vision and values that I do.

“I’m looking forward to what the future holds for us. I have a feeling we will build many things together.”

Prior to the tie-up with Raikkonen, West Coast Choppers’ use of the iron cross in its range had already caused controversy.

In 2004, the company’s clothing was banned from schools in Simi Valley, California, because it had reportedly sparked violence between white and black students.
Mr Raikkonen and Mr James have both been approached for comment.