Kimi Raikkonen says his qualifying session for the Spanish Grand Prix was hampered by a set of tyres getting "burnt" in their blankets.
With teams keen to preserve sets of new tyres for the race, Raikkonen was already on the back foot having used one set of mediums to get through Q1. Attempting just one run at the end of Q3, Raikkonen had a poor lap and was a full second behind team-mate Sebastian Vettel as he qualified in eighth place.
Raikkonen says he reverted to an older spec of car in order to try and have something he was more comfortable with for qualifying, but was then hurt by his tyre issue.
"We changed the car overnight and went back to the old package because yesterday was a difficult day," Raikkonen said. "We wanted to make sure this is fine and if the new package works as it should do. The car felt very good in the morning [in P3] then in qualifying on the last set it was just poor grip and a bad lap. I only had one set of tyres and the end result was pretty normal. It is what it is."
Asked if it was his choice to switch back to the old spec of car, Raikkonen explained: "It was my decision, plus the teams.
"Obviously we knew that there was a risk and it might be difficult, but I don’t think the result was or the outcome would have as bad - in the last qualifying it wasn’t very easy, I went slower than in the second qualifying. Obviously we wanted to make sure and learn and I was prepared to take the risk and see what happens. I thought it was okay until that point.
"We had one set of new tyres we would probably have used in the last qualifying but for some freak reason it got burnt in the blankets and destroyed. It is one of those things. It has been a difficult few days, but that is part of the game. Tomorrow is the race and hopefully we can score points possible."
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