Small things decide in Formula 1. It's difficult to give form to something like how changing a helmet before the crucial quali-stint could cost you the chance to even drive for a podium position in a race.
This however happened to Kimi Räikkönen.
7th position and 6 WC-points offered after Saturday's disappointment a quite reasonable start to the new season.
– A result like this doesn't change the fact that we had a good car and we would have had chances for a much better result.
– It's good that we scored points, but mostly I'm bugged when knowing for how good positions we could have raced for with this car. When looking from the situation we put ourselves into with stupid mistakes in quali, then the result is okay, but it isn't any comforting story, Räikkönen summed up.
Eric Boullier had to balance a weekend where on Saturday Romain Grosjean got a brilliant 3rd position in qualification and then in the race Räikkönen worked up from 17th to 7th in the race.
Räikkönen who wanted a different visor changed helmet at the end of Q1, which took those few seconds he would have needed to get one extra lap after the car went wide in the 12th corner.
Grosjean again fell asleep in the start and hence Pastor Maldonado crashed into his car on the second lap.
Räikkönen stretched to a fairly good race performance and did what he could from his bad starting positions.
– It's easy to sum up this weekend. Both our cars could have had a good qualification, we have the speed and it doesn't vanish in the race. We only have to screen out mistakes. Malaysia looks very promising from our viewpoint, Boullier noted.
Then what about Räikkönen's performance?
– Kimi had his old speed already this weekend. After this it's only a question of small details so he gets everything to fall in place. The qualification-process in particular is new to him, and Kimi surely needs a bit more time before that also comes naturally, Boullier said.
Räikkönen didn't even try to hide how much the mistakes on Saturday - own driving mistake and failure in estimating the time - still hurts.
– Hopefully we won't make as stupid mistakes anymore. We would have had a car that would have quite easily taken us to Q3. But if you make those mistakes, what can you do, Räikkönen sighed.
Turun Sanomat, Melbourne
HEIKKI KULTA
Courtesy: Nicole
