Despite a brief moment of worry when he stopped on track with a throttle issue, Kimi Raikkonen felt it was a normal day at the office at the Hungaroring, with the Finn finishing inside the top four in both free practice sessions.
Luckily, the throttle issue was solvable, with the Scuderia Ferrari driver able to reset the system and return to the pits, having got within three-tenths of a second of the outright pace set by Daniel Ricciardo.
Raikkonen says the closeness of the lap times can be expected around this kind of track, but he hopes he has in the car what he needs to move towards the front of the field for final practice and qualifying.
“It was a normal day’s work,” said Raikkonen. “We started pretty well in the morning, while the afternoon was a bit more tricky and less straightforward.
“When I stopped on the track it was because I had lost the throttle control for a minute, but then it recovered and I could continue. It was not a major thing, sometimes such issues can happen.
“The conditions were not the easiest and for sure, due to the red flags, we did not get as much running as we would have liked. Nevertheless it was not too bad. Today the lap times were very close, but you can expect that on this kind of track and many things can change from tomorrow on.
“We have to do our best and hopefully that’s enough to push us to the front; then it will be up to us to drive as fast as we can.”
