• Hungarian Grand Prix - Qualifying

Raikkonen struggling with new tyres

ESPN Staff
July 27, 2013 « 'Embarrassing' issues make Red Bull look stupid - Webber | Grosjean avoids post-qualifying penalty for floor issue »
Kimi Raikkonen was 0.3s slower than Romain Grosjean in qualifying © Sutton Images
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Kimi Raikkonen says his qualifying position is a reflection of his struggles with the updated Pirelli tyres at the Hungarian Grand Prix.

Pirelli has reverted to the 2012 structure of tyre on a Kevlar belt from Hungary onwards and Raikkonen has been unable to match team-mate Romain Grosjean for much of the weekend. Having qualified sixth - with Grosjean third - Raikkonen said the front tyres were specifically not helping his driving style.

"I think it's a combination of the balance with the new tyres - especially the front tyres - they're a bit like last year and they're not as strong as the ones we used to run so not ideal for me," Raikkonen said. "We'll try to work on that but in qualifying the car was not too bad, we should have run a bit more front wing and we should have been up there in the front but we are much more up there now than earlier this weekend … [understeer] is the main issue; it's not a disaster but it's not how we want it."

Raikkonen added that he was optimistic of challenging Sebastian Vettel during the race despite starting four places behind his title rival.

"It's obviously not the ideal place to start but we've seen in the past years that if you can do a good race here you can make up a lot of places so we'll just have to see how it starts."

© ESPN Sports Media Ltd.
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