Raikkonen: No Regrets over European GP
Finn Kimi Raikkonen says he has no regrets over trying to win the European Grand Prix despite one of his tyres being damaged
Raikkonen retired on the last lap of the Nurburgring race while leading after his suspension was destroyed due to the vibrations caused by the uneven tyre.
The Finn had flat-spotted it earlier in the race when he was trying to lap Sauber's Jacques Villeneuve.
The retirement meant Renault driver Fernando Alonso won the race to increase the lead over Raikkonen in the standings.
The McLaren driver, however, says he would do the same again in the future.
"No, I don't think so," said Raikkonen when asked if he would have done things differently in retrospect.
"In the end we need to try to gain more points than Alonso and he was behind me, so I didn't see any reason to come in and change the tyre and lose points to him because we were in a position to score maybe two points more.
"Maybe we were a little bit unlucky that the car didn't last one more lap, but we took the gamble and it didn't pay off. But I would still do the same thing."
Raikkonen, now 32 points behind Alonso after seven races, admitted he was to blame for the error.
"That is my mistake and it cost me quite a bit, said the Finn.
"It is always easier to say afterwards that maybe if I braked a bit earlier it wouldn't have happened, but then it was a bit bumpy and I just locked the rear and couldn't turn in again so we went in a bad shape, but you always try to lap people as quickly as you can because you don't want to lose so much time.
"I lost a lot of time on the Jordans before so I wanted to get past people quickly and not lose any more time, then I made a mistake and it cost me a lot."
About this article
| Series | Formula 1 |
| Drivers | Kimi Raikkonen |
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