Kimi Raikkonen says his race was effectively over after contact with Max Verstappen in the opening exchanges during the Japanese Grand Prix. Raikkonen, who had looked to capitalise on a lock-up by Verstappen, was run wide by the Dutch driver and the two made contact taking part of the Ferrari bodywork with it.
Speaking to media after the race, Raikkonen admitted that his race was all but over after the contact and that the damage negatively affected the balance of his car due to the vital aero pieces missing.
"After the contact with Max I saw some parts flying off my car; it was damaged pretty badly," he explained.
“I lost quite a bit of downforce and there isn’t much more you can do after that, unfortunately. It’s quite a sensitive area where we got hit so after that it was pretty difficult.
"Obviously, this affected negatively the rest of my race. What happened is unfortunate and after that it was pretty difficult to drive on.
"How much it got damaged on the left-hand side, it's far from ideal," he added. "It was I that got the worst out of it. What can you do?"
Speaking about the incident, the Finn said he felt he had given Verstappen enough room to avoid contact.
“I tried to go outside and leave him as much room as possible. He came from off the track, over the grassy kerb part, so maybe he couldn’t turn more or just ended up there."
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