• Belgian Grand Prix

Raikkonen hit by brake failure

Kimi Raikkonen's front left brake was showing signs of an issue before his failure © Getty Images

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• Belgian Grand Prix

Kimi Raikkonen confirmed it was brake failure that brought a premature end to his Belgian Grand Prix.

Excessive brake dust was coming out from Raikkonen's left front wheel from an early point in the race and when he attempted to pass Felipe Massa in to the chicane Raikkonen ran straight on and returned the car to the pits. He confirmed after the race that it was brake failure that caused his first retirement for Lotus but Raikkonen said it was inevitable his run of finishes would come to an end.

"I had a brake failure so there was really no point in trying to continue," Raikkonen said. "We both got good starts off the line but there wasn't enough space into the first corner where I went over the kerb and lost some time, but after that I was pushing as hard as I could.

"There were some brake issues at the beginning of the race but we were managing them and it was going okay until we had to retire. We've finished a lot of races and had some good reliability; one day your luck has to run out and today was that day."

Team-mate Romain Grosjean finished eighth and admitted it had been a tough day all round for Lotus.

"We had a difficult first lap where we lost a few positions and then dropped back a couple more places in the incident with Sergio [Perez]," Grosjean said. "We decided on a one stop strategy today and with the new tyres I felt that the grip was much higher than before but I knew that it would be difficult to get the time back. We tried something different and you never know; had it rained in the middle of the race we could have been well-placed to take advantage. It is good to finish the race without any mistakes, even if eighth place isn't what we were hoping for this weekend; it's also a shame that Kimi didn't finish the race, but we go to Monza hopeful of better things."

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