Kimi Raikkonen could do 'zero' in Brazilian GP pit straight crash

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."