Scuderia Ferrari Finnish driver Kimi Raikkonen has admitted that Mercedes deserve to be 2018 world champions after a close fought season with the Maranello team. The Silver Arrows wrapped up their fifth-straight championship title in Brazil, continuing their dominance in Formula One since the introduction of the hybrid power units in 2014.
After a thrilling Brazilian Grand Prix, Kimi Raikkonen said that he felt good in the car and was happy with the team’s pace. Raikkonen finished on the podium in third position: “It was a nice exciting race,” he told media afterwards. “We had good battles throughout and the car was working well during the whole race. The speed was there and we had no particular issues. The first set of tyres was very good at the start and I was really happy, but then I destroyed them a little bit trying to pass the Mercedes. Once we changed the tyres the car was absolutely fine; we kind of knew that once we pitted we could have gone past them. After that the behaviour of the car was still very good, but at that point we were a bit too late, as it had taken too long for us to get there.” – Kimi explained.
For many parts of the season, Ferrari had arguably the faster car of the two title-contending teams but was unable to capitalise on their pace advantage whereas Mercedes maximised points on their off-days.
Kimi Raikkonen added that the championship was a fairly foregone conclusion going into the race with the points margin their rivals enjoyed going into the weekend: “We can always debate many things, but today we made the best of it. Obviously it is not the greatest of results, but I don’t think we could have got more; we did not make any mistakes and fought hard. As for the Constructors’ Championship we knew that it would have been difficult; we did our best, but unfortunately it was not enough. The best team won this year, that’s how it goes.” – Scuderia Ferrari Finnish driver Kimi Raikkonen concluded, ahead of his last race for the Maranello team.
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