Kimi Raikkonen explains why he could not qualify for Q3 – Formula 1 news
Kimi Raikkonen said that he was confident that he would get another shot at making Q2 but a mix up in the communication led to him crossing the line after the chequered flag came out.
Raikkonen explained that the Lotus car had plenty of speed but he ran wide at turn 12 which also was a cause of why he could not qualify for Q3. On the other hand his teammate Romain Grosjean impressed by qualifying for Q3.
Raikkonen explained that he was all set to go for a final lap in Q2 and slowed down to prepare the car for his final attempt but miscommunication caused him to be out of time.
“We had plenty of speed and I just ran wide in turn 12 and we were supposed to have one more lap and that's why I slowed down. Probably if I'd just kept going we would have been fast enough to go through. I was supposed to have one more lap and I was just
speeding up through the last corner when the red lights came on … it was close but I just missed my last lap,” said the Finn.
He added that people on the pit should have alerted him about the time, but it did not go right for the team. He also added that it is not grounds of blaming anyone so now the team has to look forward and move past this hurdle.
He said that with the Lotus car which he said was very good with pace, was more than capable of finishing in the top ten, why his final lap was not so good he does not know but overall he has the confidence that the car is better than the result.
Raikkonen shrugged off questions regarding the E20 not feeling right to him as he complained earlier that he did not like the new power steering. The Finn said that that was not the issue.
“It's not as perfect as it should be but it's the same as it was in testing so it doesn't really affect me,” he added. “That's not reason we didn't go through, purely the reason was what I told you.”
The Finn was going to start at 18th on the grid but a five grid penalty to Sergio Perez means that Raikkonen will now be starting the race at 17th.
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