Kimi Raikkonen could do 'zero' in Brazilian GP pit straight crash
Kimi Raikkonen says there was "zero" he could do to prevent the crash on the pit straight that brought his Formula 1 Brazilian Grand Prix to a premature end
Ferrari driver Raikkonen lost control in wet conditions on the start/finish straight as the race restarted following a safety car period on lap 19 of 71, after Marcus Ericsson had crashed and blocked the pit entry.
Raikkonen hit the wall and was almost collected by various cars unsighted in the spray, including Ferrari team-mate Sebastian Vettel.
Nico Hulkenberg's Force India was also damaged when he collected debris from Raikkonen's shunt.
Raikkonen explained that conditions were treacherous in various parts of the circuit, and that he got caught out on some standing water in a place he didn't expect to find it.
"It wasn't raining awfully heavy, but it was very easy to get aquaplaning," said Raikkonen.
"The uphill [coming out of Juncao], at least for me, there was a lot of aquaplaning, and in corner four.
"The minute there are patches [of water] you are just going to spin and aquaplane.
"Once you hit those patches there is zero you can do.
"I spun, I almost got it back, but obviously I went off in a very bad place.
"I just got aquaplaning in a place I didn't expect at all. Fortunately nobody hit me."
Raikkonen concedes he was not helped by the safety car period after Ericsson's crash, with his tyres arguably not up to temperature at the restart.
"It wasn't the easiest conditions for us, and when you are many laps under the safety car it's only going to cool down the tyres," he added.
"It then gets more difficult. It was tricky, unfortunately I aquaplaned and couldn't do anything.
"It wasn't like there was massive rain, but there was standing water and then you got so easy aquaplaning.
"That was the issue, not really the amount of rain."
The lack of heat in his tyres was one of the reasons why he felt Red Bull's Max Verstappen was easily able to pass him into Turn 1 after the opening six-lap spell behind the safety car that began the race.
"Again, we struggled with the tyre temperature," said Raikkonen of Verstappen's pass.
"We know we're not at our strongest in conditions like that. He just passed me, and that's fine."
Share Or Save This Story
McLaren's Alonso sure some F1 teams will get new rules wrong
Formula 1 peaked in 2000s, not Senna/Prost era, Alonso believes
How Hamilton has battled his own mentality
What F1 history tells us about three-way title deciders
On this day: Raikkonen’s Suzuka masterclass
The contrasting fortunes of F1's big-name moves to Ferrari
The big British GP chance F1 almost missed
What Alonso needs from Aston Martin and F1 as career decision looms
Why nationality should be 'no factor' as Haas considers Fornaroli and Camara for F1 2027
F1 drivers raise concerns over 'self-learning' power units – what's going on?
Subscribe and access Autosport.com with your ad-blocker.
From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.
Top Comments