Categories: F1 News, Reports and Race ResultsFerrari

Raikkonen: P6 a 's**t end result'

40

Kimi Raikkonen says Daniil Kvyat's crash which prematurely ended qualifying at Suzuka left him with a "shit end result" of sixth place.

Kvyat crashed in the final minute of Q3, bringing out the red flags which prevented anyone from completing their laps. With Raikkonen not happy with his first run in the session, he says the red flag proved very costly for his grid position.

“The end was disappointing as we had good speed all the way through, but a bit average feeling on the first run in last qualifying," Raikkonen said. "Then there was the red flag, so it was a bit shit end result. But it is what it is…

“The first two qualifying runs were good and then that one set [of tyres] just didn’t have the grip and feeling. It felt a bit better again on that last lap, but we didn’t manage to do the full lap with the red flag, so it ended up costing us quite a bit.”

And Raikkonen is keen to try and get ahead of Felipe Massa - who starts in fifth place - at the beginning of the race.

“We will try to make a good start and go from there. Obviously it is a bit unknown for the race as there wasn’t much running in dry conditions, but hopefully we have all the correct things for the race and can gain positions because it is going to be a long race if you are stuck behind people.”

REPORT: Rosberg takes pole after huge Kvyat crash

AS IT HAPPENED: Japanese Grand Prix Qualifying

Click here for the F1 drivers' girlfriends gallery

Keep up to date with all the F1 news via Facebook and Twitter

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.