Categories: F1 News, Reports and Race ResultsFerrari

Raikkonen endures 'tricky day' despite fastest time

©WRi2

Kimi Raikkonen complained of "a tricky day" during Friday practice for the Chinese Grand Prix despite setting the fastest time in FP2.

Mercedes was quickest in a disjointed FP1 which was hit by two red flag periods, but Raikkonen then set the pace in the second session on the supersoft tyre as he beat team-mate Sebastian Vettel by 0.1s. While the headline lap time was encouraging, Raikkonen says the day had been challenging overall.

“It’s been quite a tricky day," Raikkonen said. "I don’t know if it’s the conditions or the wind or something but I was sliding a lot and obviously not feeling very nice. Once we put the supersoft tyres on we have more grip from the tyres and that helps.

"For whatever reason we’ve been quite struggling apart from the supersoft tyre. Our car is nice but it’s just the other tyres are very difficult to get any grip from. But I had a pretty OK lap and the long run on the supersoft was OK.”

And Raikkonen is not willing to predict if he can challenge for pole position as a result of his difficulties on Friday.

“We will see what the conditions are. Whatever it is it’s the same for everybody. Not an easy day, maybe the wind or whatever it is it felt very slippery. With the supersoft it improved a bit but nowhere near ideal still.”

Asked about the medium compound tyre, Raikkonen says he is unsure if it will be the best choice for the race.

“I only used the medium in the morning and it didn’t feel very good but also the soft didn’t feel great and then the supersoft was the best so far. Obviously it’s too early to say. I think the wind conditions are making it very tricky and hard to read.”

REPORT: Raikkonen fastest as Ferrari leads Mercedes in FP2

AS IT HAPPENED: Chinese Grand Prix - FP2

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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.