Kimi Raikkonen said he only has himself to blame for the mistake which appeared to cost him pole position for the Azerbaijan Grand Prix.
Raikkonen was on course to beat Ferrari teammate Sebastian Vettel to the fastest time of qualifying when he got out of shape at Turn 16, which ultimately meant he was unable to improve on his effort had to settle for sixth on the grid. He had been down the order after making a mistake during his first attempt earlier in the final qualifying session.
« Right now I’m disappointed with what happened today, » Raikkonen said. « I’ve been disappointed before but this is a different story, today I can only look in the mirror. But it’s painful. »
Although that part of the circuit can be challenging with rapidly changing wind levels and directions, Raikkonen refused to make any excuses.
« I had no issues, even took it easier on the entry of the corner, because it had been tricky with the wind all day, so I don’t know. I just got sideways, I managed to get it back but from that point I knew it was gone, because it’s all straights and flat out. »
When told that Vettel had defended his record over the last three years, saying results had masked Raikkonen’s true performances, the 2007 world champion said: « I think the end result matters. The rest doesn’t really count.
« In the end we count the points on Sundays and at the end of the year. Obviously the people that we work with know what’s happening and what’s not. I don’t really care if people think if you are slow. I know what we are doing, sometimes it works out, sometimes it doesn’t. obviously today we had good speed but it didn’t really work out.
« Like I said, I can only look in the mirror, deal with it and go forward. I know the speed is there but it’s frustrating when you know you’re fast but you don’t get the result you want. It’s much easier to get over it when you know you don’t have the speed and end up roughly where your speed takes you.
« Today was coming pretty easy, I was taking care of it in the last corners and then a mistake happens, so it’s even more painful. It’s not the first time, unfortunately, I doubt it’s the last time, so it’s just one of those days. »
http://www.espn.com/f1/story/_/id/23345766/kimi-raikkonen-annoyed-painful-error-ruins-baku-pole-shot
