Kimi Raikkonen is unconcerned by Red Bull's tyre strategy at the Singapore Grand Prix, and believes is could actually play to his advantage.
Both Red Bull drivers progressed from Q2 using supersoft tyres compared to the rest of the field on ultrasofts, meaning Daniel Ricciardo in second and Max Verstappen in fourth will start the on the slightly harder compound. Raikkonen will start directly behind Verstappen in fifth place, and asked if he was surprised to see Red Bull take a different approach, the Finn replied: "Not really.
"Obviously all of us had the chance to do that but we all do what we think it’s the best for our cars and our teams. How it will pan out, we’ll see, I have no idea and I’m not really interested on how they will run it.
"We have to do our maximum and hopefully it will pay off in a good way. It’s going to be a long race and a lot usually happens, so we have to right with the timings and hopefully we gain some places."
The Red Bull strategy should see Ricciardo and Verstappen able to run a longer first stint in the race, but Raikkonen sees the difference in grip as a potential opportunity at the start.
"Obviously it will help if we can make some positions at the start, but it’s not a very long run down to Turn One. It’s not the end of the world but normally the start is the easiest time to make positions up."
The safety car has also made an appearance in every Singapore Grand Prix so far, but Raikkonen says there is little teams can do to ensure they profit from such a scenario.
"You cannot factor it too much because you never what’s going to happen and if it’s going to happen. There are certain numbers we can look at, what has always been happening here in the past but it’s not guaranteed it will happen again. You have to have a little bit of luck sometimes to be in the right position, to gain time, but you cannot plan for those things. It either goes for you or against you."
Silbermann says ... Not so sleepy in Singapore
Romain Grosjean column: Drivers have a certain shelf life
Chris Medland's 2016 Singapore Grand Prix preview
TECHNICAL: Under the skin of the Red Bull RB12
Keep up to date with all the F1 news via Facebook and Twitter
