Kimi Raikkonen: “Ferrari unable to exploit speed”. Kimi dropped behind team-mate Sebastian Vettel on the opening lap.

Scuderia Ferrari Finnish driver Kimi Raikkonen admitted that third-place was the maximum he could have aspired for at the 2018 Hungarian Grand Prix which took place yesterday at the Hungaroring circuit, but rued the Maranello team’s inability to fully demonstrate its pace due to the track characteristics. Ferrari held the quickest package over a single lap in dry conditions at the Hungaroring but lost out to Mercedes during a wet qualifying session, taking third and fourth on the grid.

Kimi Raikkonen dropped behind team-mate Sebastian Vettel on the opening lap, after which he carried out a two-stop strategy, spending time stuck behind Valtteri Bottas. The Finnish driver ultimately profited when Bottas collided with Sebastian Vettel to move up to third and expressed mixed emotions at the result: “I think it was the best that we could hope. It was a far from the ideal start. We caught up with Bottas after the first stop but there was no chance to overtake at that point, so our option was to stop again and try again and at least we got one place back. I think we had pretty good speed but what can you do? Sometimes it’s like that, but we take the points and go for the next one.” – he said.

Kimi Raikkonen added: “I think we had very good speed but obviously what happened [in qualifying] and after the start, we never really were able to use our speed when we were on our own, catching-up. But, apart from that, you are kind of offset in the position and you know you are going to get stuck once you catch up with them. At the beginning, I was giving a bit of a hard time for Valtteri and then Seb obviously, so they never had the freedom to slow down and take care of their tyres. And there have been some issues and it paid off, so we both gained one place. But yeah, apart from that it was fun to push because the tyres, at least on my side because I stopped twice, they lasted well and I was able to go full speed. So that was fun. But the end result doesn’t really feel like a happy finish. As a team, we scored decent points and I think we have a few things to improve and I’m sure we have all the speed to be higher up – but we need to tidy up a few things. I think which way you look it depends if it’s good or bad. I don’t think it’s a disaster but it could be better, for sure.” – Scuderia Ferrari Finnish driver Kimi Raikkonen concluded.