Kimi Räikkönen laments missed chances
Kimi Räikkönen experienced a tough Sunday in the Chinese GP as the 2007 champion had to work very hard to claw back into the points after having been hit hard by his Ferrari teammate Sebastian Vettel.
Räikkönen showed tremendous pace in Friday practices. He topped the time sheet in the second free practice session and produced eye-catching longer simulations. The Finn continued to impress in qualifying. He finally grabbed only third place in qualifying. After having matched pole-sitter Rosberg through the first two sectors, he outbraked himself in the second-to-last corner and lost some valueable time.
In today’s race Räikkönen took a phenomenal start, but as he came into the second turn he was tangled by Sebastian Vettel which ended in a serious front wing damage.
“I have no idea of what happened at the start, I suddenly got hit and spun. I had a puncture in the left front tire and a front wing damage, but I managed to get back to the pits,” said the former champion.
The Finn did not give up his chances and with smart tactics he climbed his way back up to the fifth place.
Once I went back on track I found myself more or less in last position, the car felt a bit tricky, but I tried to do my best to charge through the field.”
“At the beginning I struggled a bit, but then I managed to recover some places.”
Some suggested that Kimi Räikkönen had chances for a race win or at least he could have given Rosberg a hard run for his money. Therefore the Finn was not happy with finishing only in fifth place.
“Obviously the fifth position is not ideal and not what we were looking for, but after what happened it’s not a disaster.
As for a potential conflict with his teammate, Räikkönen added that he has already spoken with Vettel about the tangle.
“Seb came to apologize to me afterwards and it’s obvious he didn’t run into me on purpose. Unfortunately this does not change things for the race but it’s only the third round of a long season,” concluded Räikkönen.
