Schlafmütze, you did wrong to skip the race The race was and Kimi did a superb job! From 11. to 17. and then to 4.- with a damaged car! all the time Sad we will never know what he could have achieved, when he would have started from 3rd or 4th position
But Kimi is Kimi- with all his bad luck. And like he is he was very unhappy with his race
Kimi: "I think it might be the conditions," said Raikkonen of Ferrari's form. "It was very hot and that's good for us, but I think even in Melbourne if we could have got behind them [Mercedes] at the beginning I don't think they would have pulled away a lot. We know that we are not exactly as fast as them over one lap, but we are working on that. But comparing where we finished last year and where we are this year it's a big step. I think we did the maximum we could after that [being hit and punctured by Nasr]. There's not much that I can do when I get touched from behind. It is what it is. Luckily there was a safety car and we had pretty okay speed although we had had damage from the car flapping around. Like I said, we did the maximum that we we could. It's a very good result for the team with the win."
Seb/Ferrari were amazing too. They build a great car, lets hope Kimi can join soon on the podium
In the BBC post-race forum Maurizio said he was running to find Kimi after the race in the paddock to give him a hug for the excellent job he did. The interviewer (Suzi Perry) said "You should have given him an icecream!", Maurizio said "I don't have to give him icecream, he is the Iceman! It felt like I was hugging an icecream"
Not a lot to say after the race. Kimi did a good job, and and terrible luck again. I can only remain hopeful and optimistic that Kimi's shit luck will change at some point. Things will start going better at some point.
quote Kimi Raikkonen: “We had a pretty poor weekend in terms of things going wrong. I had a good speed but in qualify it didn’t go well and then today, after a poor start where I had too much wheelspin right off the line, I found myself fighting with all the other drivers and I had a puncture on the rear left tyre while battling Nasr at the last corner, which means I had to go one full lap before coming back to pits with no tyre. At that point my floor had got a little bit damaged, I had to do a full lap with no tyre and then, even if the safety car helped us, I had to start from way back behind. We did our best and the forth position was the maximum we could achieve. The win of Sebastian is a very good thing for him and for the whole team , knowing how difficult the last year has been; it’s a very good job what the team has done. We knew from winter testing that we have a good car, so it did not come as a total surprise, and probably the track with these high temperatures suited us. I don’t know how it will be in other circuits, but the car has been strong so far, not yet as we want but we have a good package, and we are getting stronger”.
Seb is really lucky to come to Ferrari precisely this year when Allison, his team and Kimi have developed last year's car to what he is driving today. Plus it suits him like a glove right away! no hard-team-trasition-period for him.
Even Hamilton had to wait a year to start his winning ways at Mercedes. Talking about another inspired-team-swich.
This was a unique chance of beatting Mercedes because of the tyre managment advantage in a very hot venue. Because Mercedes is still quicker than Ferrari.
But I like Seb's attitude about him waking up believing great things can happen and also making them happen. What he made look easy today, it's not that easy, it was a great drive we saw today.
Plus embracing his new team speaking Italian. Very clever of him.
Chairman Sergio Marchionne’s statement at the end of the Malaysia Grand Prix
Maranello, 29 March – “My heartfelt gratitude to Maurizio Arrivabene and the men and women of the Scuderia. What we have seen today is the result of incredibly hard work in the last few months, work that has been carried out in silence and with humility which are the real sign of a great team. Congratulations to Sebastian Vettel and Kimi Raikkonen for a fantastic race. I am really happy for all the fans who have been waiting so long for a day like this. Forza Ferrari”.