Kimi Raikkonen was pleased to give Ferrari something positive to take away from a harrowing Hungarian Grand Prix weekend after scoring the team’s best result of the season with his runner-up finish.
The Maranello squad’s race was always going to be overshadowed by thoughts of Felipe Massa recovering from head injuries in an intensive care unit after his freak accident in qualifying, but Raikkonen did his best to lift spirits with a strong race performance.
The Finn used his KERS power to full effect to climb from seventh on the grid to fourth on the opening lap, moved up to third when the light-fuelled Fernando Alonso moved out of the equation and then leapfrogged Mark Webber’s Red Bull at the first pit stops.
Raikkonen, who pulled away from Webber when the Australian was struggling on the harder tyres and comfortably kept him at bay in the closing stages, said his lightning start had been crucial.
“I got a very good start and that definitely helped,” he said.
“We knew before the race that we needed to gain some places at the start to be able to fight for the podium.
“I think I was fourth behind Lewis [Hamilton] after the first few corners, then he overtook Mark and I could follow Mark.
“We took our first pit stops at the same time and I passed him during the stop.
“After that I was driving my own race, trying to catch up to Lewis.
“I thought I had the speed to do that at one point, but then suddenly he started to go at the same speed and then a little bit faster so the gap stayed more or less stable.
“Then I had some issues on the last pit stop that didn’t help either.”
Raikkonen said Ferrari’s pace had been a pleasant surprise, and hoped the result would bring some succour to the team after the shock of Massa’s crash.
“We had a good race – we know it’s difficult to challenge for the win right now, but we were probably closer than we expected,” he said.
“It was not an easy weekend for the team but we’ve got a good result so hopefully we can keep going like this.
“At least it’s something positive this weekend for the team.”
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