Eliminated in Q1, Räikkönen blames Ferrari
Kimi Räikkönen experienced a much shorter qualifying session than expected in Austria: eliminated in Q1, the Finn pointed to a major communication error on Ferrari's part. Sebastian Vettel, on the other hand, will start third.
The qualifying did not go as planned at all for Kimi Räikkönen. Despite a very promising pace in Free Practice, the Finn was caught in traffic in Q1 on a drying track that was constantly improving, and only managed the 18th fastest time. However, he will start 14th tomorrow, benefiting from the penalties of his competitors.
For Kimi Räikkönen, there is no mystery in explaining such a “*(*Saturday*&) of **it*” (*sic*): the communication within Scuderia Ferrari is to blame. I received some information, which was evidently incorrect, he accused after the qualifying. I was doing what I was told to do when I left the pits. I never got the information that the initial plan was no longer possible, and obviously, we totally messed up our lap.
The Scuderia Ferrari had also decided to release its two drivers as late as possible to take advantage of the track improvement. But this tactic proved to be tricky. The information I had, continues Kimi Räikkönen, is that I had three laps left to do, and they noticed that we went out too late and that we wouldn’t be able to complete the three timed laps. (…) They then suddenly made me leave the pits, but too late… We missed a lap and it cost us tremendously. I followed the plan as it was indicated to me. There was a mistake at some point.
This highly unfortunate confusion will condemn Kimi Räikkönen to a recovery race tomorrow. His teammate Sebastian Vettel will have no problem: qualified 3rd, the German nevertheless couldn’t really fight with the Mercedes as he finished nearly four tenths behind Lewis Hamilton: « The Mercedes were going a bit too fast for us. We tried everything and seemed strong during free practice. (…) From a general point of view, the Mercedes-powered cars seemed to receive more power this Saturday. Even the Williams were closer to us [Massa at 4 tenths, ed.], which was not the case in practice ».
The strong performance of the Ferraris on long stints should secure Sebastian Vettel a podium. The big surprise would obviously be managing to dethrone one of the two Mercedes.
