Kimi has no complaints with his Italian gift

SoMxNemesis · 09-14-2009, 12:28 AM

Quote:

Kimi Raikkonen may not have said 'thank you' to Lewis Hamilton but did admit his third place in Sunday's Italian GP was a "gift."

Raikkonen, who started the grand prix third on the grid, looked set to finish in fourth place after the one-stopping Brawn GPs got ahead of himself and Lewis Hamilton.

However, a last-lap crash from the McLaren driver, who put his car into the barrier at the Lesmo curves, elevated Raikkonen to third place, his fourth successive podium finish.

"We got the third with a gift but it doesn't matter," said the Ferrari driver. "It is not the perfect position for me and team but at least we scored the points we needed.

"We got the most out of the car this weekend, it's good for fans and much better than finishing fourth.

"We will keep pushing as hard as we can, we know some cars are quicker than us, but maybe at some races we can challenge for the win. Everything worked well for us, and guys did some good hard work."

Raikkonen's P3 finish, though, was almost one place further back as his final pit stop wasn't problem free.

Fighting to keep the Force India of Adrian Sutil at bay, Raikkonen tried to leave the pits a fraction too soon, causing a start-stop that cost him a few tenths.

However, Sutil, who pitted at the same time, had problems of his own that ensured Raikkonen came out ahead of him.

"I was in a hurry to get out because it was going to be very quick," the 2007 World Champ explained.

"The lollipop guy moved a bit, he put it up and then down. Luckily enough the fuel rig was out, we lost a little bit of time but not too much.

"It would not have been enough to beat McLaren in the pitstop but we could keep Force India behind. In the end it did not make much difference."

Source: Kimi has no complaints with his Italian gift - Planet-F1 News - from planet-f1.com