Kimi Raikkonen surprisingly achieved the quickest time in first practice and the second best in Free Practice 2 on the first day of running in Sochi.
Where as other teams struggled to bring out the best in their tyres, Scuderia Ferrari enjoyed a trouble-free day and managed to edge out a strong lead compared to the remainder of the field.
“It’s been a nice Friday, things ran smoothly and we had no issues,” he said. “I’m happy with the car, I had a nice feeling straight away and it’s always more fun when it goes like that.”
The Finn is not counting his chickens yet, so to speak, and is still cautious about the possible threat Mercedes AMG Petronas Formula One Team may still pose; it is normal procedure for the Silver Arrows to turn up their engines during qualifying and commandeer pole position, at times by a considerable margin.
But Raikkonen will be hoping for a strong performance during this weekend’s Russian Grand Prix as rumours have recently been surfacing about his future. Ferrari officials have also questioned his ability by drawing comparisons with his championship-leading team-mate, Sebastian Vettel.
“So far so good;” he continued. “but it’s only Friday and we have no idea what the others are doing, but we started well and I’m quite happy.
“We’ll try to make a good day tomorrow and then we’ll go from there”.
