Dennis: Raikkonen can Still Win
McLaren boss Ron Dennis believes Kimi Raikkonen can still win tomorrow's Italian Grand Prix, despite his 10-place grid penalty for an engine changes
Raikkonen set the fastest lap in qualifying but will start 11th on the grid after his Mercedes-Benz power-unit needed to be replaced after final practice.
But despite the setback, Dennis is confident about his chances for the race - and believes the MP4-20 has such an advantage in the race that Raikkonen can charge through to field to grab the win.
When asked by ITV about whether he could win, Dennis said: "Definetely. I would say with our strategy and what we know of other people, we are at least one second a lap quicker than everyone else.
"It is not my nature to be positive, but we have the pace. And when you see tomorrow you will see how fast we are. We have not compromised our strategy for this front row."
Dennis believed the only factor that could compromise Raikkonen's chances tomorrow would be getting caught up in an incident at the first corner.
"The important thing is no first lap accident," added Dennis. "We have the pace to win and we have a team that is functioning as a team.
"We want to win the constructors' and we want to win the race. We are at the time of the year now where the drivers are very much focused on the team and the team's performance, so I am very comfortable you will see the performance of two strong teammates tomorrow, which is everything Kimi needs.
"If we can survive the first lap we can do well."
Be part of the Autosport community
Join the conversationShare Or Save This Story
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