Kimi Raikkonen hopeful he and his team can figure out root cause behind Alfa Romeo’s recent bad form. Kimi came home in P13 in the race at the Sochi Autodrom.

Alfa Romeo Racing Finnish driver Kimi Raikkonen said he is hopeful that he and his team can figure out the root cause behind their recent bad form.

Kimi Raikkonen came home in P13 in the race at the Sochi Autodrom, having had a poor weekend in the Alfa Romeo. The Finn was eliminated in Q1 by placing P16, before accidentally jumping the start of the race when the lights went out. However, while jumping the start, he slammed on the brakes again so actually lost out at the start as well as then being handed a penalty for the infraction.

Gaining back some time as a result of the Safety Car intervention halfway through the race, Raikkonen capitalised on the intense scrap between the two Toro Rossos to sneak his way up to P13 but wasn’t able to make any further progress in the closing stages.

“It was a very difficult race from the start.” said a disgruntled Kimi after the race. “I jumped the lights and from that point we knew a penalty was coming. We tried our best and closed the gap with the rest of the field thanks to the Safety Car, but in the end we couldn’t make up any more places than P13.”

No points in Russia means four non scores in a row for Raikkonen, having been one of the stars of the midfield through the first half of the season. Collisions and spins in Belgium and Italy, combined with strategic errors with tyres and a simple lack of pace have made the last few races tough for Alfa and Kimi Raikkonen in particular, and the Finn says they have to get their heads down to figure out where things have gone off the rails: “The last four races have been very difficult for us, so we have to understand what has gone wrong and try to improve on it. We looked really strong in Spa, so the potential is there: we just have to get back to that level.”