- Singapore GP - Qualifying
Car felt good before Q3 issue - Raikkonen
Kimi Raikkonen says he goes into the Singapore Grand Prix in good spirits despite a Q3 software issue costing him the chance to improve on seventh after a completive qualifying session for Ferrari.
After being ninth in FP3, Raikkonen was the fastest man in Q1 and continued his form into Q2, setting up what looked like Ferrari's best shot at pole this year with Fernando Alonso going strong. But he had to abandon Q3 after just one run, complaining of a lack of power and being told to pull the car over by Ferrari.
When asked to describe the problem, which Ferrari later confirmed was software related, Raikkonen said: "It's some electronic thing, when I tried to go on power it was just cutting off. I hope it is just a small thing but it was enough to destroy our qualifying. I'm pretty sure they can fix it [for the race]."
Despite this late issue, Raikkonen is buoyed by the feeling he had from the car in qualifying after struggling with his Ferrari earlier in the weekend and for much of the 2014 campaign.
"Yeah, more or less, I've been struggling a bit with the car all weekend but we kept changing it," Raikkonen replied when asked if it was his best qualifying session of the season. "We changed it for qualifying and it was good, one of the few times it's been as I want, but unfortunately we had a problem then. There was a lot of potential today and it was nice to have a good feeling with it. It's a shame in the end but that's how it goes.#
"Obviously we hope to score more points than Williams. I hope to have a good race, a good start, hopefully we will be in the fight."
Despite clearly having a chance of making it on to one of the front three rows Raikkonen thinks there is little point dwelling on what might have been with the race still to come.
"It's pointless to try to calculate it but I kept messing up the middle sector all the time, and there was a lot of potential there, plus on the other sectors. It was a good feeling with the car so I could put it where I wanted and it was easy to drive. It's a shame but that's sport, sometimes you hope it could have happened on another weekend when you have difficult times but it is what it is."
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