Alfa Romeo Racing‘s Kimi Räikkönen said he was pleased with the result the team was able to bring home at the French Grand Prix at Circuit Paul Ricard on Sunday.
The Finn finished in eighth place, but was promoted to seventh due to post-race penalties for Daniel Ricciardo, with Italian team-mate Antonio Giovinazzi down the field in sixteenth.
“I was a bit disappointed to miss out on Qualifying 3 yesterday, but we knew it would be much better to start on different tyres than the softs, and so it was,” said Räikkönen.
Räikkönen added that although he didn’t have the best of starts, he was able to make up for it in the race.
“I didn’t make the best start but luckily I didn’t lose too much on the straight and I could fight back in the next few corners. We were in a strong position after the start, on the hard tyres, but I had to hold back [Nico] Hülkenberg the whole race.”
Räikkönen said he enjoyed racing against the Renault F1 Team, and also being able to challenge the other cars in the midfield.
“It was a great battle with the Renaults for most of the afternoon and in the end I was able to catch up with the cars in front,” he added.
The last few laps were very intense and it was good fun. It’s really good that we could fight against other cars in the midfield and be up there.
“We had the speed and we got a good result in the end.”
