Raikkonen: “The team made a mistake, but I have faith in Ferrari”

Kimi Raikkonen revealed that the decision to stay in the pits at the end of Q1 was made by the team. The Finn was eliminated by Bianchi's Marussia and tomorrow he will start 17th on a track known for overtaking difficulties. After setting a time on medium tyres, Ferrari opted to keep Raikkonen and Alonso in the pits to save a set of soft tyres, a gamble which did not pay off and which caused the Finn to be eliminated in the final seconds of Q1.

To those who asked him if he could oppose Ferrari's decision, Raikkonen replied: “You can but I believe in the team, I believe in the people. The plan was to go out, but the team told me 'no, you're fine, there's no need to go back on track'. I questioned the decision several times, but they told me there was no need, the end result is visible to all. I'm not always going against the team's advice. We're here as a team, we make decisions as a team, and this was the outcome today. As an F1 team, as Ferrari, we shouldn't do these things. None of us are in our first year. It's not good either for me or for the team."

Raikkonen has hinted that he won't complain too much about the bad qualifying: “A mistake was made. It's already a difficult year, there's no point in screaming and complaining. A mistake was made, I have made some in the past, I will make some in the future. People make mistakes, but there are things that need to be changed to improve. It's not an easy time. I have a contract, I fully believe in Ferrari, I have experienced a lot with them. It's been a difficult year, but that's life. It's no fun going through difficult times, it's happened before and sometimes that's how it goes."