Canadian Grand Prix – Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen finished last of the six drivers from the three top teams, and says there wasn’t much by way of opportunity to improve his position.
Raikkonen made a crucial error during Q3 on Saturday, running wide onto the grass as he accelerated out of Turn 2, dooming him to start from P5 as others improved on their final runs. It only got worse from there, as he was then outbraked into Turn 1 of the race, with Red Bull’s Daniel Ricciardo managing to get around the outside of the Ferrari to claim the inside for the right hand Turn 2.
From there, Raikkonen stayed out longer on his UltraSofts for the first stint. Showing good pace, he gradually opened up a small gap over the Red Bulls & Lewis Hamilton after they pitted but, when he did come in for the change to the SuperSofts, couldn’t manage to get back out on track ahead of the Mercedes. He was left stuck behind Hamilton and eventually fell away from the back of the Merc, unable to make any impression as he bemoaned the difficulty of overtaking at a venue where the Finn has enjoyed success in the past:
“Yesterday’s mistake in qualifying did not put ourselves in a good position for the race. Overtaking was very difficult here; I tried to get ahead of Hamilton after my pit stop, but it did not work out. Then It was even difficult to get close enough to him to open the DRS.”
It was a surprise, because on this track you would expect to see overtaking and fights, instead it was a similar story to two weeks ago in Monaco. Kimi Raikkonen
“The race was boring and not much happened. We decided to stay out a little bit longer on our first set of tyres and I don’t think that cost us any position: it was our only option to try something different.”
The poor race from Raikkonen’s side of the garage has come at a bad time as the Finn aims to continue his F1 career with the Scuderia next year. Sauber’s Charles Leclerc, as well as Red Bull’s Daniel Ricciardo, are known to be of interest to the Italian team, who are engaged in a battle with Mercedes for the Constructor’s Championship.
