Raikkonen slams 'boring' Abu Dhabi GP

Kimi Raikkonen thinks that the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix at Yas Marina was 'kind of a boring race' due to the fact that many of the drivers on the circuit were forced to curtail their efforts to move further up the field due to fuel-saving constraints.

The Ferrari driver clinched fourth position in the race after taking advantage of Daniel Ricciardo's retirement, and managed to keep Max Verstappen from overtaking without much incident, leading to a race without many highlights for him personally. Raikkonen lamented the fuel-saving rules which made the contest more like an endurance race than Formula One.

"The car was most of the time pretty good, but to be honest it was not a lot to do with racing because the fuel saving was a lot," Raikkonen said.

"I tried to keep the guys behind, but tried to be on the limits that you're allowed to use so it was a kind of boring race.

"But this is what the rules are and some races it's more and others not. It shouldn't be like that. It's more like endurance racing. But that's how it is. It's the rule and we have to respect it. But as racers, nobody's happy because we want to race."

Raikkonen's race revolved around a battle with Red Bull and their driver's Verstappen and Ricciardo, and although he managed to better the latter, he had sympathy for the young Dutchman due to the same fuel situation.

"You were thinking 'should I go after him?' because you knew at some point it was going to have to be painful to get back under the limit that we have. It's not a lot of fun. I think Max was more or less the same story. As we were close to each other it looks OK but if you look closely you were lifting off 200 metres before the corners."

The 2007 world champion did insist that the problem was not just affecting Ferrari, and that most of the other teams were seeing their efforts to race hampered by the fuel ruling.

"I don't think it's just us. For sure, it's the other teams also. Maybe some teams have to do less than others and there are always a lot of things to do with how you run the cars and this and that, but I don't think we are any worse than other teams."