Raikkonen reveals how his tyres went on fire in 'freak' incident
Kimi Raikkonen revealed a “freak” incident led to a set of his tyres being burnt during Spanish Grand Prix qualifying.
The Finn could only manage seventh place ahead of tomorrow's race, with Ferrari team-mate Sebastian Vettel up in third behind the dominant Mercedes of pole-sitter Nico Rosberg and championship leader Lewis Hamilton.
After qualifying behind Valtteri Bottas’ Williams and the Toro Rosso pair of Carlos Sainz and Max Verstappen, Raikkonen explained that he was hampered after losing a set of the faster, medium compound Pirelli tyres on offer to him.
“We had one new set of tyres we could have used in last qualifying but for some freak reason it got burnt in a blanket and destroyed,” he said.
“But that is part of the game. It’s been a difficult few days but tomorrow is the race so hopefully we can score good points.”
Raikkonen also said a decision to revert back to a Bahrain-spec of his Ferrari was a decision taken by both himself and the team after he was unhappy with a number of the upgrades during Friday’s practice sessions.
“We changed the car to the old package because I wasn’t sure about it as yesterday was a difficult day,” he added.
“It was my decision plus the team’s. I wanted to make sure this was okay and if the new package was working as it should.
“When you make the decision obviously it is a lot of work to change. There was no chance to change it back but I’m happy to take the risk.”
