Alfa Romeo Finnish driver Kimi Raikkonen has called for Lewis Hamilton to be penalised for blocking him during qualifying for the Austrian Grand Prix. Kimi had to abort his lap after catching the Mercedes into Turn 2 during the first part of qualifying, and although Raikkonen made it through to Q2 and went on to qualify seventh, he believes Hamilton’s actions were worthy of a penalty.
“He blocked me, as simple as that! How can it be so difficult to move out of the way for people? And then there’s radios and for sure every team is telling which drivers are going fast or not,” the Finn said after the session.
Hamilton attempted to get out of Kimi Raikkonen’s way by running off-track, but the Alfa Romeo driver said it was too little too late.
“I’ll talk when I go to the Stewards later, it won’t be my first time there nor the last. I’m fine this time! He should have slowed down and let me pass; he cannot slow down and then speed up. He went over the kerb and into the run off… I don’t know why he didn’t slow down on the right hand side. He did, then accelerated and tried to get out of the way but it was too late. It was enough for me to have to slow down and abort that lap, so for sure he blocked me.”
Asked if Hamilton should be penalised, despite both drivers making it through to Q2 and Q3, Kimi added: “When you block somebody in qualifying it should always be a penalty, it’s not very difficult. That’s how it has always been but I don’t know what will happen. Let’s see.” – Kimi concluded.
Leave a Reply