Raikkonen’s Sakhir race started with a loss of position to Fernando Alonso. The Finn had to wait until the pitstops to retake the place, but by this time, was too far behind the leaders. Instead, Raikkonen decided to settle for third place in order to ensure his engine was protected for the Spanish Grand Prix.
“I lost a place to Alonso and then I did not have a big enough edge to overtake him on the track and was stuck behind him,” Raikkonen explained. “The only hope was the pit stop. You never what can happen, but the team did a great job, calling me in at the right time and doing everything perfectly. Unfortunately, the leaders were already a way ahead and there was little I could do about winning.
“So I didn’t see the point in taking any risks and chose to look after the car, especially as I will be using that same engine in Barcelona. Twenty-two points are a good amount as I said before, but I think I could have got all the available points.
“I am sure we can be stronger if we manage to optimise the performance of the car and I hope we start doing that at the next test session.”
