Categories: F1 News, Reports and Race ResultsFerrari

Raikkonen plays down tyre advantage

Kimi Raikkonen says he doesn't have an obvious tyre advantage for the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix after qualifying in third place.

The Finn was the only driver to make it through Q1 using the soft compound tyre, suggesting he is happier on that compound which is likely to be the main tyre in Sunday's race. However, Raikkonen played down any potential advantage, saying he was simply struggling on the supersoft tyres.

"I don’t think it’s going to be any easier," Raikkonen said. "In qualifying the supersoft was looking good and yesterday and this morning it wasn’t ideal and I couldn’t get a lap together with those, but then qualifying in was fine again.

"The conditions changed from day time to evening but all tyres seem to be working pretty well for me and we will see what we are going to do and which tyres we are going to run in the race."

And Raikkonen played down the significance of his final lap in qualifying which saw him jump Sergio Perez for third place, saying he had plenty in reserve after his first run.

"Obviously the car has been handling pretty well all weekend, but the laps haven’t been ideal many times. Even in the first run it was okay but nothing like I needed, so I knew that there was quite a lot to improve and I was just trying to make a bit of a better lap. Obviously it was still some way away from what the Mercedes can do, but I just tried to do my best."

REPORT: Rosberg continues qualifying run with Abu Dhabi pole

AS IT HAPPENED: Abu Dhabi Grand Prix - Qualifying

Between the lines at the Abu Dhabi 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.