Categories: F1 News, Reports and Race ResultsFerrari

’Dangerous’ crash ‘not ideal’ - Raikkonen

Kimi Raikkonen was typically laid-back when discussing the “dangerous” accident he had with Fernando Alonso at the start of the Austrian Grand Prix.

Accelerating away from Turn 2, Raikkonen lost control of his Ferrari and veered left across the track, collecting Alonso and wedging the McLaren against the barrier at high speed. Alonso described the incident as “very strange” but Raikkonen is not overly concerned over whether there was a glitch which caused him to lose control or if it was just driver error.

“I had wheelspin and suddenly went left,” Raikkonen said. “That’s about it really. The wheels spun really aggressively there and I don’t know what caused it, but the result is always the same.Kimi Raikkonen was typically laid-back when discussing the “dangerous” accident he had with Fernando Alonso at the start of the Austrian Grand Prix

“Obviously it was in a pretty odd place, usually you only get [wheelspin] like that when you are coming out of the corner but it was far away from the exit. Whatever caused it makes no difference to me…

“It’s not normal but it happened, that’s the way it is. The car didn’t have any grip. It’s dangerous, but racing is dangerous always.”

With Alonso’s McLaren ending up on top of the Ferrari and requiring Raikkonen to take his hands off the wheel to avoid contact, the Finn dismissed any major fear regarding the incident.

“It’s not ideal, but it happens. It must have been worse for the [cameraman] that was standing there and we must have come close to hitting him.”

Click here for the gallery of Raikkonen and Alonso's crash at the Austrian Grand Prix

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Andrew Lewin

Andrew first became a fan of Formula 1 during the time when Michael Schumacher and Damon Hill were stepping into the limelight after the era of Alain Prost, Nigel Mansell and Aryton Senna. He's been addicted ever since, and has been writing about the sport now for nearly a quarter of a century for a number of online news sites. He's also written professionally about GP2 (now Formula 2), GP3, IndyCar, World Rally Championship, MotoGP and NASCAR. In his other professional life, Andrew is a freelance writer, social media consultant, web developer/programmer, and digital specialist in the fields of accessibility, usability, IA, online communities and public sector procurement. He worked for many years in magazine production at Bauer Media, and for over a decade he was part of the digital media team at the UK government's communications department. Born and raised in Essex, Andrew currently lives and works in south-west London.