Kimi Raikkonen admitted that he was happy to see his fellow Finn Valtteri Bottas score his first Formula 1 win at the 2017 Russian GP, even though this outcome meant a defeat for Scuderia Ferrari, who had high expectations on Sunday as Sebastian Vettel and Kimi Raikkonen started the race from the front row.
In the end Valtteri Bottas was joined on the podium by third-place finisher Kimi Raikkonen, creating a rare if not unprecedented display of two Finnish flags. Kimi had started second on the grid in Russia, but lost out to Bottas at the start, and stayed third until the end of the Grand Prix in Sochi: “I am happy for Valtteri. People always think that we have something against each other, because we have come close to each other and into each other a few times but no, I’m very happy for him to win.” – Kimi Raikkonen said, as reported by Italian national sports newspaper Corriere dello Sport.
“It doesn’t mean that I am not happy if Seb wins. It’s going to be close between both of the Ferrari and both of the Mercedes drivers this year, so it will be exciting – but unfortunately a lot of times it will depend of what happens in a first lap. That’s how it’s going to play out. Hopefully it goes better. I’m happier this weekend, but obviously not happy to be third, but this is how it goes sometimes.”
Kimi Raikkonen says that the poor start was the key factor in Ferrari’s final result: “I had a pretty poor start, comparing even to Seb. Got wheel spin straight away and then I really thought I was going to lose a lot more but then luckily, both of these cars near me went side-by-side and I started to get the tow and I managed to stay ahead of Lewis in the end. But, I don’t know what happened. It was slippery and lost a lot, so, not ideal. If you look last year it’s all about starts, and if you lose a place in those, it’s going to be a boring race. Not a lot happened after that. Mercedes, Valtteri was a bit too fast but then we were kind of holding our positions but nothing really happened the whole race, so, all about the start.” – Kimi Raikkonen concluded.
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