Valtteri Bottas has been given a five-place grid penalty for Sunday’s United States Grand Prix for changing his Williams gearbox after qualifying.
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The Finn had qualified 12th and was due to start 10th after both Ferrari drivers were handed 10-place penalties for engine changes.
After the race, Raikkonen refused to consider his move on Bottas as being “stupid” and recently said that he stands by his initial assessment. I would still do it tomorrow again, that doesn’t change the story.
“I just wanted to ask if it’s OK when you are next to another vehicle, at a few point on the exit of the corner are you allowed to always push the other auto up on the curbs”, said Raikkonen. “I would still do the same thing next time”. I wouldn’t do anything different.
“From my point of view the first one was quite a different one”, he said. It was much more clear he would do it, and as a driver you’re not going to leave the door open two times.
However, Raikkonen’s race would come to an abrupt conclusion when, after changing to slick tyres, the Ferrari snapped away from him on a damp patch, sending him off track.
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“I saw it in the end”, he added, he added referring to the gap that wasn’t there, “however, once he made a decision to go there I tried to brake as much as I can but there’s no way to avoid it”. Then, obviously, the front brake overheated when I went out, I was going to run out of brakes, so the team called me in. It was an unfortunate thing and it is part of racing. “The race is very soon now, so that’s the only opportunity to make the best we can from here”.
