Haug Criticises Raikkonen Engine Penalty

The Finn's Mercedes engine blew in Friday practice and had to be changed triggering an automatic 10-place penalty on the starting grid because drivers must use the same engine in two successive races.

Raikkonen, closest rival to Renault's Championship leader Fernando Alonso, will start 13th.

"Sometimes it just hits you, if you look at the list of the manufacturers this year," said Haug.
 
"For me, it's absolutely not the right rule, I have to say," he told reporters, explaining that a bearing had failed.

"It hits you and then you are penalised and if you have a problem in any other technical part you are not penalised so I do not quite understand why you should be penalised for an engine failure but it is what it is.

"I think Kimi was absolutely in a position to go for pole position," he added. "You can imagine we changed the strategies slightly and he's now one and a half tenths (of a second) off pole," said the German.

Raikkonen, 22 points adrift of Alonso with 10 races remaining, recognised the failure was going to cost him a lot but he still hoped to get close to the podium.

"I think the weekend started the worst way that it can," said the Finn. "The engine failed so from that point on we knew it was not going to be easy any more because we were going to get the 10 places penalty."

Such has been McLaren's speed in recent races, with Raikkonen winning three so far, that he remained confident.

"I think we are in a strong position even if we start from the back," he said. "For sure, we can score some good points."