• Monaco Grand Prix - Qualifying

Top four too far away - Raikkonen

ESPN Staff
May 25, 2013 « McLaren its 'own worst enemy' - Button | Webber surprised by qualifying gaps »
Kimi Raikkonen: "The car was the best that it's been this weekend" © Getty Images
Enlarge
Related Links

Kimi Raikkonen said fifth on the grid was the best he could manage during qualifying for the Monaco Grand Prix.

Raikkonen will line up behind the two Mercedes and the two Red Bulls on Sunday's grid after lapping roughly one second off the pace of Nico Rosberg's pole position time. He said the car was at the best it had been all weekend even though the tyres were difficult to turn on.

"We are quite far away from the next ones, but the car was the best that it's been this weekend," he said. "It would be nice to be better but this where we are. The car was okay but we were missing one second to the pole and at the last race we were missing 0.6s or something. For sure if we got the tyres working a little bit better we will go fast. If we get the tyres working a little bit better we can go fast. It was difficult to get the front working but it wasn't too bad towards the end."

Asked whether he could attempt a one-stop strategy on Sunday to try to move forward from his grid position, Raikkonen said: "I cannot say because I don't know. It's as simple as that. Maybe we can do it, maybe we cannot.

"We will only see in the race when the conditions are as they are and the speed is at whatever it will be at the beginning of the race. Usually it's better in the races but sometimes not. Last year we had quite bad tyre degradation in the race so we'll see."

© ESPN Sports Media Ltd.
ESPN Staff Close

ABOUT COOKIES

To help make this website better, to improve and personalize your experience and for advertising purposes, are you happy to accept cookies and other technologies.

More Info Here Cookie Choices