Raikkonen welcomes championship lead
Kimi Raikkonen was happy to leave Bahrain in the championship lead after what he labelled as a difficult weekend for him
The Finn, who had never finished in the top two in Sakhir, was overshadowed by teammate Felipe Massa all weekend and had to settle for second place behind the Brazilian in today's race.
The world champion admitted he had not found the right set-up for his Ferrari, but was pleased to end up leading the championship after all his problems.
"The whole weekend has been pretty difficult," admitted the Finn. "One of the things were that we couldn't get the car really right.
"We look at a bad weekend and we finished second, so never mind, next race will be different.
"We are leading the championship and that is the main thing, but it was not the easiest weekend for sure."
He added: "It hasn't been perfect all weekend but the problem is we haven't found perfect balance, but that is life.
"I never am too happy at this circuit, but I think out of these first three races it is important to get many points.
"I am happy to be leading and when we go back to Europe we hope we can be strong in the next races."
Raikkonen has 19 points, three more than BMW's Nick Heidfeld and five more than Lewis Hamilton.
Share Or Save This Story
Alpine becomes Pramac's main partner in MotoGP
Liberty Media's $4bn MotoGP deal facing EU probe
The story of the 2011 Italian Grand Prix
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
Ogier: Solberg WRC Canary Islands fight is a rarity in modern rally
WRC Canary Islands: Ogier and Solberg set for final-day duel
Why Marquez avoided a penalty for his pitlane entry in the Spanish MotoGP sprint
Can Ducati end Aprilia's MotoGP winning streak at the Spanish GP?
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