"We tried, when we were 3rd, but the Williams was too fast on the straights, I could not help it. It's still disappointing to finish in 4th place, the positive side is that we were the faster in the race, but we are here to win"
quoteBelgian GP: Raikkonen says season-best fourth down to clean race By Ben Anderson and Andrew van Leeuwen Sunday, August 24th 2014, 16:15 GMT
Kimi Raikkonen says his season-high fourth place finish at the Belgian Grand Prix was simply down to the fact that it was his first clean race of the 2014 campaign.
The Finn, who has endured a troubled season so far for Ferrari, said he has had a "better feeling" in the car for a few races now, and that his fourth-place finish at Spa is more about having a clean race than he and Ferrari finding more speed.
"The race was clean, no issues like in the past, we always had something happen," he said.
"It was probably the first [clean] race of the year. That helps. We could do our own race, and the result was a bit better.
"At the last few races we had a better feeling, but a lot of things happened in qualifying and the races.
"We had some damage on the wings by getting hit by other cars, and it compromises your race because you can't run your own speed.
"The main thing is we had a clean race with no issues. We could push. There was still difficulties with the car handling-wise, but we expect that.
"Sure there are things that we have to improve, but the feeling has been there for a while, it's just been comprised by the mistakes or things happening to us.
"Hopefully we start getting more clean weekends. It would make life easier, and probably the results better."
Raikkonen added that fourth was the best he could achieve today, and that he did not consider himself to be battling with Valtteri Bottas for third place, given the Williams's superior straightline speed.
"Not much of a fight, really," he said. "In a straight line they are much faster. One lap he almost got me, but I could keep him behind, then on the next lap there was no chance. For me, it doesn't count.
"We are a bit down on power. For sure we don't have the horsepower or the engine that they have, and the energy recovery that they can achieve, and that's the bigger problem right now.
"But we've improved that, for sure it is better than at the beginning at the year."
quoteMarco Mattiacci: "At the end of a weekend in which the topic of young drivers was very much in the news, I want to start by congratulating Raffaele Marciello on his first GP2 win and Jules Bianchi for his strong showing in yesterday's qualifying. As for the race, we are very pleased for Kimi: today, he came close to the podium and scored his best result of the season, a result which sees us maintain third place in the Constructors' classification. Unfortunately, Fernando's race was compromised by a problem at the start. Without that, I firmly believe the podium was within his reach. We know we have missed out on a great opportunity, but we will learn from this incident to pay obsessive attention to our procedures, as we strive to improve reliability. The next race will be complicated because top speed is a strong point of the Mercedes-powered teams. We will try and defend with every means available, because the efforts of the team in terms of improving the car are producing encouraging signs."
Fernando Alonso: "Today my race started on the back foot as the car did not fire up and we had to use another battery. It's a shame because we had a strong pace all weekend and, starting fourth, we could have finished on the podium. With a penalty to take and on a circuit where top speed is our weak point, we knew we didn't stand much of a chance, but all the same we did our best. Unfortunately, towards the end there was some rather questionable driving and after my front wing was damaged in a coming together with Vettel, the important thing was to get to the chequered flag. I know the Stewards acted on what happened, but I don't think it's that important when you are fighting for sixth and seventh places. Now we must look ahead and prepare for Monza. Even if it's a track that won't suit our car, it's our home race. We will have the support of all the fans and so it's a race where we want to do better. Let's hope we succeed in that."
Kimi Raikkonen: "We had decided to tackle this race more aggressively, making an early stop to get ahead of the cars that had yet to pit and that meant I was able to stay with the leaders for much of the race. When Bottas in the Williams began to close on me, I knew I didn't have the speed to defend on the straight and with a few laps to go, he managed to pass me. In general, I'm happy with how this weekend ended. We knew it would not be easy on this circuit, but we did our utmost and for the first time, we managed to have a clean race without any problems. The car has improved and today the pace was good. Fourth place shows we are going in the right direction, but it doesn't mean we can settle for that. Today, we scored a good number of points, but we are here to win and we will continue to work to reach the top."
Pat Fry: "Fourth and seventh places can't be seen as satisfactory, especially given that circumstances today meant we could have delivered more as a team. Clearly, Fernando's penalty, because of a problem with the charge from the external battery we use on the grid, cost him the chance of fighting for a place on the podium and from this incident we must learn to improve our procedures. From then on, his race was compromised and whatever strategy we went for would have seen him in traffic: that's how it turned out and unfortunately, he suffered a lot behind Magnussen, who could count on better straight line speed. Despite this, Fernando pulled off several overtaking moves and drove a great race. It's a shame about the contact with Vettel at La Source, which cost him places right at the end. Kimi ran a clean race and we are pleased his feeling with the car is improving. It was precise and he made no mistakes: we came close to a third place with him, which he maybe deserved. Now we will continue to develop the car to give both our drivers an ever more competitive package, even if we have to be realistic when it comes to the rest of the season. Monza will be a very tough race, but there too, we will try and get the maximum out of our available package."
Quote: Denorth wrote in post #26losing any respect I had left for Hamilton after he went to press to claim Rosberg admitted crashing deliberately...
yeah, and everybody going crazy! It's amazing how many people still think that Nico did it deliberately.. even after Toto and Nico said that it's not true. Well Hamilton knew how to get the media on his side
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Sun Aug 24, 2014 3:45 pm
Great job Kimi!!! 
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Do he say two or three times "disappointing" after his best race this season? 
even after Toto and Nico said that it's not true. Well Hamilton knew how to get the media on his side 
