Raikkonen sees potential despite messy Friday

Kimi Raikkonen says Friday practice for the Brazilian Grand Prix was "quite messy" for him but he sees potential for Ferrari at Interlagos.

The Finn was fifth fastest in the opening practice session despite a fairly dramatic spin in to the gravel at Turn 4, before improving to fourth place in FP2. Reflecting on his day's work, Raikkonen said there were a number of interruptions which made it difficult for him to make progress with his car.

"In the morning, I had to do some aero testing in the first half and hour," Raikkonen said. "Then we had one run, then we had a small issue with the set-up and then I spun off.

"In the afternoon, a lot of things happening always when we went out. But we got some laps done but it was quite messy in all the ways. It didn’t feel too bad on one lap."

Having suffered some problems with his clutch when trying practice starts, Raikkonen says he is still in the dark over Ferrari's race pace: "I don’t know - it felt OK but we’re still struggling a bit so we’ll see."

Raikkonen's Ferrari team-mate Sebastian Vettel also described Friday as "a difficult day" for the team despite both cars finishing in the top five in both practice sessions.

FP2 REPORT: Rosberg turns the tables on Hamilton

AS IT HAPPENED: Brazilian Grand Prix FP2

Use the red tabs on either side of the screen to scroll through more Formula One news and features

Click here for Friday's gallery from the Brazilian Grand Prix

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.

Recent Posts

Williams explain power trick that could define F1 in 2026

Formula 1’s next generation of cars will not just look different – they will sound…

2 hours ago

Horner weighs in on explosive 2026 F1 engine controversy

Christian Horner has waded into Formula 1’s latest technical storm, addressing the growing controversy over…

3 hours ago

Newey: AI has been shaping F1 ‘for a long time’

Aston Martin’s chief architect and team principal Adrian Newey believes Formula 1’s latest buzzword is…

4 hours ago

Norris gets a pole-position welcome at old primary school

Fresh from pre-season testing and with a world title now stitched onto his racing overalls,…

6 hours ago

Two on the trot for Laffite and Ligier in Brazil

On this day in 1979, Jacques Laffite won the Brazilian Grand Prix at Interlagos as…

7 hours ago

Russell hungry for ‘head-to-head’ title clash with Verstappen

George Russell is not hiding his appetite for a showdown this season in F1. In…

8 hours ago