Scuderia Ferrari Finnish driver Kimi Raikkonen admitted that he lacked the pace to “do anything” in Sunday’s Italian Grand Prix at Monza, starting and finishing in fifth place, as Scuderia Ferrari’s home Formula One race ended in disappointment for the Maranello fans.
As Mercedes swept to a one-two finish led by Lewis Hamilton, Scuderia Ferrari was left to settle for a best result of third as Sebastian Vettel led its charge. Kimi Raikkonen spent the early part of the race struggling to pass Lance Stroll and Esteban Ocon, ultimately getting the jump on the youngsters following the pit stop cycle.
The Finn was then passed by a charging Daniel Ricciardo late on, leaving him to settle for fifth place at the chequered flag: “I think the first laps were kind of OK, but then I struggled a lot. I don’t really know what it was, but when I was trying to enter some corners the car was very loose, but then it got a bit better. I was really struggling through the last corner. I almost spun a few times going into that corner, so I couldn’t get any good runs into the straight.” – Kimi Raikkonen said, as reported by the Italian media at the end of the race.
“That is why it took a while to settle down and then, obviously, I managed to pass some of the guys, but it was a difficult day and, overall, the whole weekend. Not an easy weekend. In some laps it was better but some of the times I was just lacking the grip and, really, the pace to do anything.” – the 2007 Formula One world champion added.
Scuderia Ferrari was always expected to encounter problems at the Monza track taking into consideration the high-speed nature of the circuit, which favoures Mercedes’ W08 car, but Kimi Raikkonen is confident of a response at Singapore in two weeks’ time: “If you take just the layout, it’s one of the circuits that we knew it wasn’t going to be so easy for us. Unfortunately it’s also our home race, but I would be surprised if in the next race it’s the same story.” – Scuderia Ferrari’s Finnish driver explained after the Italian Grand Prix.
“For sure this weekend we were lacking in speed, but the other tracks will be completely different. There are some places where we seem to be very strong, in others we’re definitely not that strong. We always try to improve in all the areas to get better in the places we’re not that strong.” – Kimi Raikkonen concluded.
Leave a Reply