• Indian Grand Prix
Comments: 10

Car was fast enough for a podium - Raikkonen

ESPN Staff
October 28, 2012 « Fuel saving prevents Massa fighting McLaren | Hulkenberg achieves Force India 'maximum' »
Kimi Raikonen: "When you are stuck behind and you can't get past, it's useless" © Sutton Images
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Kimi Raikkonen felt his car was strong enough to score a podium at the Indian Grand Prix, but said he couldn't find a way past Felipe Massa to exploit it.

Raikkonen finished seventh after spending his whole race tucked within a second of Massa's gearbox. His Lotus did not have the straight-line speed to pass the Ferrari on the straight and when he managed to find a way past following his pit stop he was immediately re-passed by Massa in the DRS zone.

"We really thought that the car, with its lap times, had the chance of a podium," Raikkonen said. "But when you are stuck behind and you can't get past, it's useless. But we made a mistake yesterday and we paid for it today in the race. Hopefully at the next race we can use the pace that we have and put ourselves in a good place to start the race."

Raikkonen is still third in the championship but said he was not entertaining any hope of making up the 67-point deficit to Sebastian Vettel.

"I think we knew already for quite a few races before that unless they made some big mistakes they had too much speed. I'm happy that the car is now a little bit stronger but we just have to put ourselves in the right place."

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