Austrian Grand Prix – Kimi Raikkonen believes that no other outcome could have been reached by the stewards after they decided to hand two time penalties to Daniel Ricciardo at the French Grand Prix.
In the final lap of the French Grand Prix, Raikkonen became involved in a battle with Renault’s Ricciardo and McLaren’s Lando Norris, and overtook for seventh place when both drivers ran wide at the chicane.
With Ricciardo recovering, he slip-streamed behind Raikkonen towards the Signes corner and took the place back, but exceeded the track limits in the process, which resulted in a post-race time penalty.
Ricciardo was penalised for both incidents, which promoted Raikkonen back into seventh place.
Speaking ahead of the Austrian Grand Prix, Raikkonen believed that the Renault driver’s first incident with Norris was 50-50, but his off-track overtake was a clear penalty.
“I think the first one was on the limit [of receiving a penalty], it could’ve gone either way. The second one, I knew that there was a track limit somewhere on the straight!” said Raikkonen.
“In corners, sometimes it’s a bit difficult to say, but if he wanted to take the option of going on the right-hand side…yes, there’s space, but with the rules that I know this [a time penalty] was always going to happen.
“That’s where he went, if there’s a wall he wouldn’t have gone past me, simple as that. We all know the rules, but sometimes it’s easy to not think of the rules when you’re driving.
Looking ahead to the race at the Red Bull Ring, he added that the track limits could be a talking point once again.
“As a track, it usually provides good racing. It hasn’t changed an awful lot from the first time I was here in 2001.
“The first corner has changed a bit with the run-offs. A lot of things have been done because of MotoGP, too. For them, I understand why, because it’s probably quite dangerous in the first place and when they hit the grass patches, it’s game over.
“usually there is some conversation on track limits and, I don’t know if the kerb has changed, but the normal [track limits] stories with be talked about.”
