Kimi Raikkonen was disappointed to qualify fifth for the Singapore Grand Prix, but the Finn felt he pushed ‘over the limit’ during his final qualifying run that ultimately did not pay off with a faster time.
The Scuderia Ferrari drive was pleased with his initial run in Q3, and was fourth fastest at that time, but was unable to deliver a better time in his second run that saw him fall behind his nemesis in 2016, Max Verstappen.
“Today we got more or less what we could from our car,” revealed Raikkonen. “Obviously it’s a bit disappointing given where we finished, but this is a tricky place.
“The fifth position is not ideal, but I was pretty pleased with my first lap in Q3 and the car was handling well. In the last run I knew I had to push a bit over the limit, trying to improve, but it didn’t pay out. I made some mistakes, I went wide in turn 1 and got sideways.
“There’s no issue with the car, we are just lacking overall grip and in Singapore that makes a big difference.”
Raikkonen knows strategy will play a key part in Sunday’s race, and with each of the top three teams – Ferrari, Mercedes AMG PETRONAS and Red Bull Racing – all seemingly performing differently on their tyres, everything is to play for in Singapore.
“Tomorrow we have to make a good start and then go from there, there will be different ways of using the tyres between the teams,” said Raikkonen.
“The race is going to be very long, and usually there’s a lot happening, so we have to get the timings right and try to go forward.”
