Kimi Räikkönen suffered in Malaysia

After his surprise season-opening victory in Melbourne, Kimi Räikkönen arrived in Malaysia propelled as the favorite. If the start of the weekend went well for the Lotus driver, regularly at the top of the rankings during free practice, the Finn then experienced qualifying and a much more complicated Grand Prix : qualified seventh, then penalized and demoted to tenth place for having hindered Nico Rosberg launching into a fast lap, Iceman had to fight hard in the race to take a seventh place in the final.

“Of course, this is not what we expected, but it happens sometimes”, commented Kimi Räikkönen. “While the car behaved very well on Friday, yesterday and today it was more difficult to drive. Since Saturday morning, it no longer behaved as we expected, for some reason that I don't know, particularly in the wet where I really struggled to find grip. »

Regarding the race, “she was tough”, confessed the Finn. “My start was not good and I lost part of my front wing on the first lap. The car no longer responded very well after that and it was even more complicated in the wet. My pace wasn?t too bad, but it could have been a lot better if you look at my times on Friday? He continues. “It was very hot at times”, adds the 2007 world champion, involved in several battles during the Grand Prix, notably with Nico Hulkenberg (Sauber). “It wasn't our best weekend, but at least I got a few points, which is better than leaving empty-handed,” positive Iceman, who has just given in first place in the Drivers ranking à Sebastian Vettel. “If we can get the car back to Australian form, I'm sure we'll be in front again,” concludes Kimi Räikkönen.

Discover the analysis of the Malaysian Grand Prix carried out by our special correspondents in the next issue of AUTOhebdo, available from Tuesday in digital version for iPad, PC and Mac, and from Wednesday on newsstands.