Kimi Räikkönen: “Unlucky…and lucky”

« I was unlucky… but in a lucky way.” Kimi Räikkönen summed up in the best possible way his end of the Grand Prix in Great Britain at Silverstone this Sunday. Started second on the grid behind Lewis Hamilton, the Finn of the Team Ferrari was never able to threaten the Briton with Mercedes, but seemed set to take a second place under the checkered flag.

A tire from the SF70H will decide otherwise. In preparation for the finish, the Pirelli rubber began to fall apart, forcing the world champion to return to the pits, eventually finishing third, Sebastian Vettel being the victim of a puncture on the penultimate lap.

« Everything was going more or less well and the gap was good for us, but with two laps to go, I don't know what happened, admits Räikkönen. Just before the sixth turn, the left tire did not explode, but the rubber part suddenly came loose aI'm in the middle of the straight and I don't think I hit anything.

Everything seemed normal before that moment and luckily I got home very quickly. I think I damaged the front wing because the tire was hitting it, but we managed to get back to a correct position. Seb had a similar problem a lap later. I don't know, I don't know what happened. »

Mercedes and Hamilton on another planet

Kimi Räikkönen also highlights the visible gap between Mercedes and Ferrari this Sunday in the race. The Briton had already shown his muscles in qualifying by relegating the Finn to more than five tenths, before largely dominating the debates this Sunday in the race.

“We could have been second today, but we didn't really have the speed against Lewis, says Iceman. Clearly, we have work to do. We had a good start, but once we were behind we had no real chance of beating them. »

Find the report and analysis of the British Grand Prix, produced by our special correspondents at Silverstone, in issue 2123 of AUTOhebdo, available tomorrow evening in digital version, and from this Wednesday on newsstands.