Kimi Raikkonen says it is unacceptable that Ferrari asked him to slow down and cool his brakes after just two laps of the Austrian Grand Prix.
Raikkonen endured another frustrating race behind the wheel of the F14 T, recording just a single point. When told he needed to make two tenths behind Jenson Button in the middle stint Raikkonen replied “give me more power then”, but he says the problems with his Ferrari had started far earlier than that.
“Yes we had [power] go down but also after two laps I had some brake issues, I was meant to cool the brakes,” Raikkonen said. “I tried to fight against the guys in front of me as well as behind me so it’s quite difficult after two laps when you’ve been asked to slow down.
“Those two things should not be happening and we they to fix them. We cannot go into a race and start slowing down after two laps because of issues like that. We are not fast enough to give up any times anyhow so hopefully there is a lot more work to be done.”
Raikkonen is also confused as to why Ferrari kept him out for so long during his first stint when he had clearly lost the performance from his tyres. Running third, Raikkonen started struggling on his worn supersoft tyres and dropped behind Sergio Perez – who was yet to pit – and Nico Rosberg.
“For me it was very bad timing for the pit stop. My tyres were not good and I lost two places on my in lap. I needed to really stop earlier but I don’t know the reasons why we stopped at that point but it obviously cost us some places. With the speed that I had there was no way to get anything back. Obviously that was not very good.”
(Source: espn.co.uk)
FUCK ISRAEL 
I really dislike the choice of words used by espn here in this case especially the first paragraph.
LikeLike
The autosport version by Jonathan Noble is much better. http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/114613?source=mostpopular
LikeLike
Raikkonen frustrated by Ferrari issues during the Austrian GP
http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/114613
Kimi Raikkonen has expressed his frustration at being told to look after his brakes early in the Austrian Grand Prix, saying Ferrari cannot afford for such things to happen.
With the Red Bull Ring Formula 1 weekend having once again highlighted the engine deficit Ferrari has to Mercedes, Raikkonen’s hopes of a decent haul of points were wrecked by him having to have back off early.
The Finn reckons that in Ferrari’s current situation, it is essential that it can push its car to the maximum throughout every grand prix to have any hope of a good result.
“We had to go down [on the engine settings] but also after two laps I had brake issues,” explained the Finn, who eventually finished 10th.
“They asked me to cool the brakes but I was trying to fight against the other guys. So it was quite difficult after two laps being asked to slow down for brake issues.
“We know those kinds of things should not be happening, and we have to fix them. We cannot go into the race and start slowing down after two laps because of issues like that.
“We are not fast enough for giving up points, so there is more work to do to get there.”
When asked how much of a step forward Ferrari had made since the start of the 2014 F1 campaign, Raikkonen said: “I think we are more or less in the same place.
“I think it depends a lot to do with the layout of the circuit, how it is for each team.
“[Austria] has long straights and the Mercedes powered cars seem to be working. But we have improved for sure in various places, and the car is much more together from the first race.
“But we need much bigger improvements on the engine and aero and those kind of things to get where the Mercedes guys are.”
LikeLike
I see a major confrontation coming. Can it really go on like this indefinitely?
C’mon Ferrari! Get your act together!
LikeLike
Ferrari are obviously as crap at strategy as they are at building cars!!!
LikeLike
i wish kimi was in Lotus..even if they are behind ferrari atleast he would be treated right..its like ferrari’s two main agenda of the race is
one to get alonso the best possible track position
two..ruin kimi’s race
LikeLike
“It is the overall package that is not as competitive as Mercedes. It is clear that Mercedes did a good job with the power unit.” -Mattiacci
It’s also having dunderheads like you running Ferrari!
LikeLike
For those thinking that there’s some sort of conspiracy towards kimi, sorry to say this but there isn’t. Ferrari are in a very bad place at the moment, they wouldn’t want to make things worst. They have sponsorships to look after, kimi is part of the brand and the brand is part of kimi. A lot of money is involve and to think that they would spend resources to “kill” kimi on purpose is outrageous.
Things would be different if alonso is running for the championship, of course there would be some favouritism but far from conspiracy.
Looking back at kimi’s struggles, its purely down to kimi not liking the car and set up. Has kimi done enough? Well thats an interesting question and open for a thorough debate.
LikeLike
I don’t believe that this is a witch hunt either. I think Kimi is genuinely experiencing seemingly ongoing niggles with adapting to the car.
What puzzles me though is that Nando is faring far better than his compatriot in most spheres, and both drivers are riding in the same equipment. Maybe Kimi should look to him and see where he (Alonso) is doing things right, as opposed to him (Kimi) doing things wrong.
Having said that, perhaps it’s time for Kimi to stop blaming all in sundry, and instead accept responsibility by adapting to the actual car’s manners, and not the other way round.
But as time goes by, this is now all becoming a very costly and tedious exercise indeed. My question is when will it come right, if ever?
LikeLike
You see, Kimi is already doing that — he’s adapted his driving to the car because it responds to a totally different driving style. So to make it work at least to some degree he’s driving differently than he likes.
However, it is not beneficial to anybody because there is only one way how you can exploit Kimi’s driving magic: the car has to be able to interact with him in certain way. He can only be the fastest if the car allows this. Unfortunately, the technical rules in F1 are very rigid and the current Ferrari car was designed before Kimi got on board (it’s suitable for Alonso’s driving style).
You can always learn to play tennis with the other hand but you will not be playing at your absolute maximum and you never will because naturally it’s not optimal for you.
LikeLike
“And right now, if we sort out the front end we lose the rear and it is trying to balance it out – and somehow get it working. We have a lot of work to do before we have good things, but for sure we will get there.” -Kimi
It’s interesting to note that Kimi remains surprisingly optimistic despite the ceaseless issues that have left him way down in 12th position in the overall standings. He has remained calm in what could be considered a really disastrous comeback at Ferrari. However, should the car and Kimi amalgamate in the not too distant future as he predicts, then it is possible we could see a gripping turn of events at Maranello.
LikeLike