Kimi Raikkonen finished fifth in the 2017 Chinese Grand Prix, which took place this morning at the Shanghai International Circuit, behind both Red Bull drivers, Max Verstappen and Daniel Ricciardo, despite the fact that he managed to out-qualified them on Saturday and the Maranello team seemed to have a better race pace.
“What the hell is happening on the exit of 12? I have no power if I don’t switch to K1” – Kimi complained over the radio to those on the pit wall. The Finnish driver also had to deal with other problems during th 56-lap race in Shanghai, adding that on one point he had “zero torque.” Engine power wasn’t, however, Kimi Raikkonen’s only problem on the day as the Finn struggled with his tyres and yet, was the last of the frontrunners to pit for fresh tyres.
According to the online version of the italian newspaper Tuttosport, Ferrari told Raikkonen that if he stayed out he would finish on the podium. The Finn felt otherwise and was pitted for a fresh set of soft tyres. At the end of the Chinese Grand Prix, Kimi was asked about his troubles on Sunday: “We didn’t have one specific problem. The car was good when the tyres were fresh but we seemed to lose the front tyres. At a place like this it was giving a lot of lap time away. I think we could have got a bit better result but this is what we got.”
As for whether Ferrari should have brought him in for a second stop earlier than they did, Kimi did not want to make any predictions on what could have been the final result: “We have to look at what happened. It’s always easy to say after the race but this is how it goes.”
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