‘Massive step’ no surprise for Raikkonen

Kimi Raikkonen says Ferrari’s “massive step” forward in 2015 is no surprise for the team after Sebastian Vettel won the Malaysian Grand Prix.

Vettel outpaced the previously dominant Mercedes pair of Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg to win at Sepang, with Raikkonen recovering from a puncture at the end of the first lap to finish fourth. With Ferrari failing to win a race at all in 2014, Raikkonen says the result shows what a big step forward the team has made but insists it was one he was expecting since the first test of this year.

“Obviously we had a good car in the first race and since the first test we always said we had a pretty good car,” Raikkonen said. “It’s not a big surprise for us, obviously this weather probably helped and we got the pit stops right both with Seb and with me even with the issues.

“It’s hard to say where we’re going to be exactly at the next circuit because every circuit is different but it’s a good base. Obviously we have things to improve and we will get new parts and stuff so that will always help. Like we said from the first test it’s a massive step from last year and it’s a great job from the team and a very good thing for the team.”

And Raikkonen says fourth place was the best result he could have achieved after picking up a puncture after being hit by Felipe Nasr at the final corner at the end of the first lap.

“Obviously we had quite a lot bad luck in quite a few places this weekend but there’s not much I can do when I get touched from behind and it is what it is. Luckily there was a safety car and we had OK speed, we had some damage with the tyre flapping around on the floor but we did the maximum that we could. Obviously for the team it’s a pretty good result, they got the win. It could have been better but obviously the team with what we had today we did the maximum.”

Click here for Sunday's gallery from the Malaysian 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

Sad Colapinto laments two crashes in one day in Sao Paulo

Williams suffered a bruising time on Sunday in Sao Paulo, with Alex Albon unable to…

37 mins ago

McLaren: No regrets over timing of Norris pit stop in Sao Paulo GP

McLaren team principal Andrea Stella has insisted that the squad has no regrets about their…

2 hours ago

Williams' Boutsen hoists the mainsail in Adelaide

On this day in 1989, Williams' Thierry Boutsen secured his second F1 win when he…

3 hours ago

Horner: Max 'answered critics' with epic Sao Paulo GP drive

Red Bull team principal Christian Horner hailed Max Verstappen’s sensational Sao Paulo Grand Prix victory…

4 hours ago

Sainz left puzzled by double crash drama in rainy São Paulo

Carlos Sainz was left scratching his head after a disastrous Sunday at the Sao Paulo…

5 hours ago

Alonso pushed through agonizing pain to complete Sao Paulo GP

Fernando Alonso braved both physical agony and mechanical challenges in the Sao Paulo Grand Prix,…

7 hours ago