Italian Grand Prix – Alfa Romeo’s Kimi Raikkonen will start from the pitlane on Sunday, following a change of engine and gearbox after his Q3 crash.
Raikkonen qualified in P10 for Sunday’s race at Monza, having failed to put in a laptime in Q3. The Finn, pushing on his first flying lap of the session, touched the inside kerb going through Parabolica and lost the rear of his car. Going off backwards into the barriers, it was a hefty whack for the rear crash structure and gearbox.
Speaking to media afterwards, Raikkonen owned up to his mistake and said: “I don’t think it’s anything to do with the track. Obviously I made a mistake and I paid a price for it. That’s how it should be.”
The damage to the rear of the car has meant that Alfa are fitting him out with a new gearbox and Spec 3 Ferrari power unit. As the car was in parc ferme conditions the instant he went out on track to begin qualifying, these changes mean an automatic pitlane start for the Finn.
“Obviously it’s far from ideal for tomorrow, but we’ll see.” said Raikkonen, who says he’s hopeful of some inclement weather to spice things up: “Hopefully if it’s a bit mixed up it gives us a chance.”
With Raikkonen’s crash triggering the chaos of the final minutes of qualifying when seven of the nine remaining drivers in Q3 couldn’t get across the line in time to start another flying lap, Raikkonen was his usual taciturn self about the incident as he said: “I’m not interested, really. I was not involved.”
