“Nothing scary about it” – ‘Ice Man’ Kimi Raikkonen has downplayed the fire that caught his Alfa Romeo during the second practice session at Abu Dhabi.
The Alfa Romeo of Kimi Raikkonen caught fire at the rear during the second practice session at Abu Dhabi. After Romain Grosjean’s horrific incident in Bahrain, fire safety has taken increased prominence in F1. But Raikkonen played it cool, like always, calling it “some damage”. The former world champion also helped the track marshals to extinguish the fire on his car, quite sportingly.
“Obviously, there is some damage but hopefully, it is mainly bodywork. It is a different engine and gearbox than we run tomorrow. It is just a bit more work for the guys. Nothing scary about it. It is just a shame that it gets all messed up with trying to put the fire down. It is just one of those things.
“At least it happened to an engine and gearbox we were going to change in any case. It’s obviously a lot of work for the guys in the garage but we should be okay for tomorrow.”
Antonio Giovinazzi has a lack of understanding with the Pirelli tyres
While Kimi Raikkonen finished the session P14, teammate Antonio Giovinazzi had a disappointing P17. The Italian had missed FP1 after veteran Polish driver Robert Kubica took over the car. After the session, Giovinazzi pointed to a lack of tyre temperature and grip being the focus areas for improvement.
“It was not easy. Missing FP1 and jumping into FP2 was not easy to get back the speed in the first part of the session.”
“The window of the tyres was not right, we didn’t turn on the tyres and we missed quite a lot there so we need to do a better job in terms of tyre temperature. Hopefully, we can do a lot better. When you don’t turn on the tyres, you are missing grip everywhere.”
Also read: Kimi Raikkonen: Alfa Romeo’s Antonio Giovinazzi heaps praise on legendary teammate
