Raikkonen bemoans ‘not driving very well’

Kimi Raikkonen says one of the main problems for him during Friday practice for the Australian Grand Prix was the fact he was “not driving very well”.

Ferrari emerged as the closest challenger to Mercedes in FP2 as Sebastian Vettel was third quickest ahead of Raikkonen in fourth. Speaking over team radio before Vettel beat his lap time by 0.4s, Raikkonen admitted he had completed a poor lap and he says there is more to come from himself after a largely encouraging start.

“In testing it was a big improvement already and the team has done a good job over the winter,” Raikkonen said. “There is still hard work to do but we have to start somewhere and if you compare it to last year it is a big step.

"Not an ideal day, [I was] not driving very well or putting the lap together. We chased the car a little bit on the longer runs and it seems to work a bit better, it was just tough to put things together.

"We know where we expect ourselves to be and it's only Friday. We still have work to do. I just have to put things together and drive a good lap and we should be OK."

Click here for Friday's gallery from the Australian 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

Honda recalls January reality that shattered F1 engine hopes

Honda entered Formula 1’s new era believing it had built the foundations of a competitive…

4 hours ago

Leclerc says Madrid’s La Monumental will ‘reward the brave’

Charles Leclerc’s early verdict on Madrid’s brand-new Madring suggests the rest of the F1 grid…

6 hours ago

While F1 rests, Bottas pedals into a world championship

Somewhere in the Czech Republic last weekend, while the F1 paddock was busy elsewhere doing…

8 hours ago

When Jenson Button finally broke his duck!

Jenson Button took the first win of his Formula 1 career on this day in…

9 hours ago

Montoya reveals Russell’s unexpected Antonelli problem

George Russell’s battle against Kimi Antonelli at Mercedes is already a daunting challenge on pure…

10 hours ago

Sainz: Williams struggles an ‘eye opener’ but turnaround achievable

Williams’ 2026 season was supposed to be the next step in a carefully plotted rebuild.…

11 hours ago