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Raikkonen blames qualifying struggles for poor weekend

16:20, 11 Jun 2018

byJake Williams-Smith

Kimi Raikkonen blamed a poor qualifying performance for his torrid weekend in Canada. The Finn brought his Ferrari home in sixth position in a rather anonymous race whilst teammate Sebastian Vettel took victory and the lead in the championship.

He told ESPN after the race that his weekend was compromised after a disappointing performance on Saturday left him only fifth on the grid.

“Yesterday's mistake in qualifying did not put ourselves in a good position for the race.

“Overtaking was very difficult here; I tried to get ahead of Hamilton after my pit stop, but it did not work out.

“Then it was even difficult to get close enough to him to open the DRS. It was a surprise because on this track you would expect to see overtaking and fights, instead it was a similar story to two weeks ago in Monaco.

"The race was boring and not much happened. We decided to stay out a little bit longer on our first set of tyres and I don't think that cost us any position: it was our only option to try something different."