- Singapore GP - Race
My pace looked worse than it was - Raikkonen
Kimi Raikkonen was left disappointed with his eighth place finish at the Singapore Grand Prix and said the result makes his performance look much worse than it actually was.
Raikkonen spent much of the race stuck behind either Felipe Massa or Valtteri Bottas and was unable to get past on the straights because of the top speed of the Williams. He eventually got past Bottas when the Williams' tyres went off, but said doing so before was difficult because the Ferrari has a tendency to wear its rear tyres at a faster rate when in traffic.
"Most of the race I got stuck behind the Williams, mainly Massa but then in the end with Bottas," he said. "I think we had a bit more speed than them, but obviously we could not get past and I was just driving behind. This seems to affect us a lot and when you get behind someone you lose all the downforce at the rear and it just destroys your tyres.
"You cannot get close enough in the passing places to try to attack and everyone is on shot tyres so I kept following the people until the end of the race, fucking up my tyres, so I'm quite disappointed.
"If we get the right conditions and we get ourselves into a good place after the start then we can be very fast. But when we get stuck behind people at certain races it makes your own speed look much worse than it actually is."
Raikkonen said the Williams was particularly difficult to pass because of its straight-line speed.
"It's hard to overtake them. I got close a few times, but pulling out of the fast corners I just lost the grip. If you don't get the proper jump on them you will never pass them in a straight line. It's a strong point of their car and here, with only a few places to overtake, it's very hard to get past them."
© ESPN Sports Media Ltd.
