Hamilton warned Raikkonen has 'nothing to lose'

Joas van Wingerden Sunday 21 October 2018 00:25

Kimi Raikkonen says he "has nothing to lose" as he lines up alongside Lewis Hamilton for the United States Grand Prix, where the Mercedes man will look to secure a fifth world title at the expense of Raikkonen's Ferrari team-mate Sebastian Vettel.

Hamilton will be crowned champion at the Circuit of the Americas if he outscores Vettel by eight points and put himself in the perfect position to do so by taking pole position.

Article continues under video

Vettel was second-fastest, but will start fifth after a three-place penalty for speeding under red flags in Friday practice is applied.

Raikkonen found late pace to take P3 in qualifying, but the Finn will be promoted to second by his team-mate's sanction.

Crucially, Raikkonen starts the race on the quickest ultrasoft compound of tyres, while Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas are on supersofts – potentially giving the Finn a pace advantage off the line.

"Little bit too slow but I can deal with it," he said.

"It's been a pretty positive day. We came pretty close so it's far from ideal but I feel good with the car.

"We'll try tomorrow. It's going to be a long race and nobody really knows how the tyres will survive because of yesterday's rain, so it will be interesting."

Put to him that he will start on quicker tyres, Raikkonen replied: "Yeah and not much to lose!

"We'll try to make a good start and go from there and see what we can do, it should be OK."

MORE: Hamilton takes COTA pole, Vettel starts fifth
VIDEO: Verstappen snaps suspension in qualifying

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