28/04/2018
NEWS STORY
Having posted purples in the opening two sectors, Kimi Raikkonen looked set to take pole position for tomorrow's Azerbaijan Grand Prix, having started the previous three races from second.
However, a mistake at Turn 16 meant he could only manage sixth on the grid having made another mistake on his previous run.
"Right now I'm disappointed with what happened today," he told reporters. "I've been disappointed before but this is a different story, today I can only look in the mirror. It's painful.
"I had no issues," he admitted, "I even took it easier on the entry of the corner, because it had been tricky with the wind all day, so I don't know. I just got sideways, I managed to get it back but from that point I knew it was gone, because it's all straights and flat out."
The Finn might yet have an impact on tomorrow's race for he is the only driver in the top ten who will start the race on the ultrasoft tyre, everyone else having posted their best Q2 times on the supersoft.
"In the end we count the points on Sundays and at the end of the year," said the Finn. "Obviously the people that we work with know what's happening and what's not. I don't really care if people think if you are slow. I know what we are doing, sometimes it works out, sometimes it doesn't. Obviously today we had good speed but it didn't really work out.
"Like I said, I can only look in the mirror, deal with it and go forward," he continued. "I know the speed is there but it's frustrating when you know you're fast but you don't get the result you want. It's much easier to get over it when you know you don't have the speed and end up roughly where your speed takes you.
"Today was coming pretty easy, I was taking care of it in the last corners and then a mistake happens, so it's even more painful. It's not the first time, unfortunately, I doubt it's the last time, so it's just one of those days."
Check out our Saturday gallery from Baku, here.