Kimi Raikkonen on the first corner incident with Valtteri Bottas

Kimi Raikkonen on the first corner incident with Valtteri Bottas. Kimi's view on the incident with Bottas.

Scuderia Ferrari Finnish driver Kimi Raikkonen admits to being disappointed as his 2017 Spanish Grand Prix came to an end at the very first corner, but says that there is nothing more he could have done in order to avoid the unfortunate outcome. Kimi had a good start and was close to gaining a position, but at the entrance to Turn 1 he found himself at the same time as Red Bull Racing driver Max Verstappen and Mercedes AMG Petronas Formula One Team driver Valtteri Bottas, as they all converged on the same spot of tarmac. Ferrari’s number 7 was hit by his Finnish compatriot and incident inevitably sent the Maranello team’s driver spiralling into the Red Bull, thus ending the race for both of them:

“I made a good start, but on the main straight I got blocked once by Bottas. I chose to lift and go a little bit on the left to leave him space, but, I don’t know how, he hit me on the right rear corner, my car jumped and I end up going into Verstappen. There was nothing me or Max could have done, when you get hit from behind in that way there’s no way to avoid the collision.” – Kimi Raikkonen said, as reported by the Italian media.

The Finnish driver is adamant he left Valtteri Bottas enough space to make the corner without any contact between them, so is unsure how the Mercedes driver managed to hit him: “I’m pretty sure Valtteri had enough space. Unfortunately, my race ended there.”

The 2007 Formula One world champion sustained a broken front suspension and bent tyre, meaning he had to retire from the Spanish Grand Prix and park his SF70H car up, in a race in which Kimi could have scored another podium finish taking into consideration the good pace showed by the other Ferrari driver, Sebastian Vettel, who came close to winning the Grand Prix in Barcelona. The early exit was therefore very frustrating and disappointing for the Finn who had felt strong in the car during the practice sessions, having outpaced team-mate Sebastian Vettel in all sessions but qualifying, prior to the race on Sunday: “Obviously it is very disappointing, we had been running quite well all weekend and I was happy with the behaviour of the car.” – Kimi Raikkonen concluded.