Kimi Raikkonen: “It felt more like being in Finland than Spain”. Due to the wet and very cold conditions none of the F1 teams opted for extensive running.

Meteorologically speaking, spring starts tomorrow, but it seems that does not apply to the Catalunya Circuit. The third day of testing was wiped out…following snowfall this morning. And even when it turned to rain in the afternoon, temperatures never reached the sort of numbers required to run a Formula 1 car. Air temperature just crept over two degrees with the track a fraction more.
Come the afternoon, Kimi Raikkonen and Scuderia Ferrari took the only reasonable decision, namely to write off the day, which under the current regulations cannot be recovered later. Tomorrow, Sebastian Vettel will drive as planned, to round off the first test session. So the SF71H spent the whole day in the garage. There was no point in venturing out, because with such low temperatures, even the Wet tyres would not work properly and furthermore, running would not generate any worthwhile date on how the car was performing.

“Today, it felt more like being in Finland than Spain” – Kimi Raikkonen said, as reported by Scuderia Ferrari’s official website – “And everyone knows there’s no Formula 1 in my country.” – The Finnish driver will be back at the wheel next week, with the T2 session getting underway on Tuesday 6th March, running for four day. This time, the Scuderia Ferrari programme has Sebastian Vettel driving on the 6th and 8th, with Kimi Raikkonengetting his turn on Wednesday 7th and Friday 9th, that being the final day of winter testing.