"What's going on?" - Verstappen stunned by Raikkonen battle

Red Bull

"What's going on?" - Verstappen stunned by Raikkonen battle

Verstappen had to defend fifth on lap two despite starting 13 places higher

Ewan Gale

Tuesday 27 October 2020 13:49

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Red Bull driver Max Verstappen has revealed his shock at having to defend from Kimi Raikkonen during the opening laps of the Portuguese Grand Prix.

The Alfa Romeo driver made up 10 positions to rise from 16th to sixth on the first tour of the Algarve International Circuit as drizzle and different tyre choices made for a chaotic start for the drivers on their first visit to the track.

Verstappen, who had to repel the Finn's attack on lap two, explained his confusion at suddenly being involved in a tussle with the 2007 world champion.

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"I tried to stay out of trouble a bit, tried to settle down," said Verstappen, who was involved in a collision with Racing Point's Sergio Perez on the exit of turn four.

"Then I had Kimi behind me. I was shocked about that because I thought: “Am I really going to… like, what’s going on?” Kimi was flying, probably his rally driving helped him a bit in the first lap or something because that was pretty impressive."

Red Bull team-mate Alex Albon added to the conversation by stating that "Kimi was flying. He was on a different track to all of us."

The end result would not be what Raikkonen nor the team would have hoped for as he just missed out on 10th to Sebastian Vettel, despite the promising start and strong pace shown throughout.

Whilst the most experienced driver in F1 history was less than impressed with his start off the line, Raikkonen instead pointed a jovial jibe towards his contemporaries whilst recounting the dramatic opening to the race.

“I don’t think the start itself was very good," he said. "After that honestly I thought at one point ‘What are the others doing?’”

“I had a good first and then second lap, the speed was decent in the car most of the race, then we had a little bit of difficulties in the pit stop and in the end, I lost 10th place to Vettel with old tyres.

“We got nothing out of it, so that’s a shame. We need more speed then everything will become a little bit easier.”

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