Scuderia Ferrari Finnish driver Kimi Raikkonen believes Formula 1’s pecking order may change from race to race after a “nice” unpredictable start to the 2018 season.
The Maranello team won the first two grands prix of the year before a smart Red Bull strategy allowed Daniel Ricciardo to take victory in China last weekend, meaning the all-conquering Mercedes team of the last four seasons is yet to triumph in 2018.
Lewis Hamilton and Mercedes were the benchmark in Australia but a safety car handed victory to Sebastian Vettel, who was the pacesetter in Bahrain and China.
Kimi said it was “very hard to say” what the competitive order is: “If you ask anybody, it’s a bit tricky to give you an answer. I think a lot of the end result [in China] depended on whether you had better tyres than others, when you could offset yourself to the others. Obviously, it’s a big part of the game, and it made a big difference, [as did] the safety car. Pure speed, with everybody on the same tyres in a race… it’s difficult, very difficult, to say. I think it’s nice like that, for everybody to watch, because nobody really knows. Everybody would love to know but nobody really [does] because it changes from race to race and such a small difference makes a big difference in the end result. You just have to wait and see. It might change from race to race, and who runs what tyres.” – Kimi explained.
Mercedes and Ferrari have both displayed benchmark performance in qualifying and race trim at some point across the first three races, but Red Bull is the unknown factor because its first two grands prix were compromised.
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