Raikkonen still happy with car despite crash

2015 British Grand Prix

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Kimi Raikkonen denied he is unhappy with the handling of his Ferrari despite his dramas in the last two races.

Raikkonen spun while accelerating out of a slow hairpin during the Canadian Grand Prix, a mistake which cost him a podium finish. Then in Austria the car got away from him again on the first lap, leading to a crash which ended his race and Fernando Alonso’s.

Asked about the problems during a press conference today Raikkonen said “I don’t see why I wouldn’t suddenly like it because I had a accident”.

“It doesn’t change anything,” he continued. “I have accidents sometimes, like I said it’s part of the game.”

Raikkonen said some have been quick to forget the gains Ferrari has made since last year.

“We improve the car, it’s still a great car,” he said. “Obviously not probably fast enough to challenge the Mercedes all the time but it’s a very good car, a massive improvement from last year.”

“Things go wrong sometimes but it doesn’t mean you suddenly hate the car or you don’t like the things. It’s part of the game. Like I said it’s a good package, we want to improve and make it faster. Things could always be better, even when you have a winning car you’re always wanting more out of it.

“But like I said we’ve come such a long way from last year that people forget all this and we’re still work in progress to improve things.”

Raikkonen’s contract with Ferrari expires at the end of this year but he offered no indication whether he expects to be retained.

“They make the decision,” said Raikkonen. “I try to do good races, the last race was a bit difficult but that’s a part of the game, sometimes you have that.”

“I don’t know anything more than you guys so I know hopefully some point what will happen. It’s always speculations this time of the year, always the same stories, it doesn’t really surprise me. We’ll see what happens.”

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    Keith Collantine
    Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

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    7 comments on “Raikkonen still happy with car despite crash”

    1. It’s always speculations this time of the year, always the same stories, it doesn’t really surprise me. We’ll see what happens.”

      Exact same thing Massa kept saying before he was sacked.

      Kimi needs to start beating Vettel consistently to get back in their good books, unfortunately, I don’t think it’s going to happen.

      Would really like to see either Ricciardo or Hulkenberg in that 2nd Ferrari seat.

    2. His comment regarding how much quicker the car is now is telling. As quick as Alonso is I feel his car development is way off. In which team has he been where the car has got quicker over time? Same said for Button (excusing the DD) both have had years in teams with no progress (Ferrari/bar) whilst Kimi was at Sauber, McLaren, lotus and now Ferrari the cars have got faster! Maybe his driving isn’t A+ any more but his development clearly is!

    3. That seat is Hulkenbergs. Kimi is just keeping it warm and trying his best to wreck the car in the process.

      Kimi’s time in F1 spent. Maybe if he showed once in a while that he actually cared about his performances and maybe answered a question properly then I would care more.

    4. His spin in Canada was due to an software glitch and somehow he is now in a pattern of errors. But this is how it is in sports (and politics)—the integrity of the narrative takes precedence over the facts. This site doesn’t indulge in that kind of reporting but others are making a meal out of these spins-plural.

      1. @dmw It isn’t just a few spins though. He has had a single podium compared with Vettel’s five (including a race win). Kimi is 48 points behind Vettel after eight races. A spin and a crash is forgivable, but he has been consistently underperforming for the entire season so far. His qualifying performance in Austria was terrible, he was 53 seconds behind Vettel in Malaysia. The list goes on.

        Ultimately it can get to a point where it is clear that he is simply not the right driver for Ferrari.

        1. Raikkonen has had some bad luck in qualifying too. In Austria the weather conditions improved through the quali and Raikkonen & Perez were stuck behind Alonso and failed to do last planned lap in Q1 and both of them were out.

          Raikkonen should improve the qualification, his race pace is good with improved Ferrari.

        2. Malaysia and Bahrain were his top performances. So that example doesn’t really hold in this case.

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