Sunday: Räikkönen avoids total disaster for Scuderia Ferrari at Monza
No one is a prophet in their own land: Scuderia Ferrari bitterly experienced this during the Italian Grand Prix of F1, with Fernando Alonso's retirement and the mere two points scored by Kimi Räikkönen.
Kimi Räikkönen (#7) – 9th
The Finn expected a complicated Italian Grand Prix and he certainly got one today during the race: « We knew it would be a tough weekend and today in the race, we saw the proof of it. Overall, I was happy with the car’s behavior and the balance was good, but we lacked speed on the straights and I didn’t have enough grip. As soon as I got close to the cars in front of me, I lost aerodynamic downforce and the car slid. »
Räikkönen could do no better than 9th place at Monza, and it’s clearly not the result he was hoping for: « I think I did my best today, even though unfortunately I wasn’t able to get the result I wanted for our home race, for the team and all our fans. »
Fernando Alonso (#14) – Retirement (ERS)
The Spaniard had gone 29 Grand Prix without retiring before this race: « After a long series of trouble-free races, it’s really a shame to have to retire here in Monza, in front of all our fans. I would have liked to have had a different race for them. »
He explains the evolution of the strategy before his withdrawal: « In the first stint, we were competitive, but when you are in a group of cars where everyone is using DRS, overtaking becomes almost impossible. After the first stop, I found myself at the back of a train of cars and from there we changed the strategy, deciding to let the group go to conserve the tires and try to attack at the end of the race. But then the problem with the ERS happened. It’s never good for the team to have a reliability issue, because the guys work day and night to give us the best possible car. »
« What happened does not change my will to win, and for that to happen soon, we will continue to work as hard as possible, giving everything, » he concluded.
