Kimi Räikkönen says that nothing but a “perfect job” in the 2018 Italian Grand Prix will see his sensational pole-position converted into race victory.
Räikkönen claimed his first pole since last year’s Monaco Grand Prix at Monza by setting the fastest F1 lap of all time, with an average speed of over 163mph. The Finn’s 1:19.119 was too hot for Scuderia Ferrari team-mate Sebastian Vettel who completed a Ferrari lock-out of the front row.
“The car has been good all weekend”, said Kimi “and we knew it would have been a close battle. All three sectors were obviously crucial; so far the difference between the top three had been very small, so it was a question of who would get it right and today it was me!
“It’s great to be on pole in our home Grand Prix in front of our tifosi. When we are driving we cannot hear them, but we could see them cheering and they gave us a lot of support.
“As a team we did a very good job, we couldn’t have done any better today.”
Räikkönen, in true Iceman fashion, isn’t getting carried away just yet, citing that the race on Sunday is far more important than his record-breaking qualifying effort.
“I’m very happy for this result but unfortunately this doesn’t guarantee anything for tomorrow,” Kimi continues. “Half of the job has been done, but tomorrow is the most important day. For sure we have a good car and the best possible starting place.
“The race is long and many things can happen; we need to do a perfect job and hopefully tomorrow will be another good day”.
Kimi and Vettel will go in search of Ferrari’s first win in front of the tifosi since Fernando Alonso‘s victory eight years ago.
