Ice-cool Kimi Raikkonen brushes off session-ending Alfa Romeo blaze

Abu Dhabi Grand Prix

Ice-cool Raikkonen brushes off session-ending Alfa Romeo blaze

Raikkonen's FP2 was cut short by a power unit fire

Ewan Gale

Friday 11 December 2020 18:30

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Alfa Romeo driver Kimi Raikkonen claimed there was "nothing scary" about the fire which cut short his second practice session at Yas Marina despite his radio connector jamming when he tried to escape.

The lead, which plugs into a connection to the right of Raikkonen's shoulder, failed to disconnect as the Finn repeatedly pulled on the chord whilst the fire intensified at the rear of the car.

The Ferrari power unit had let go with 18 minutes remaining in the session and although the unit would have been changed overnight, the damage caused by the fire could provide difficulties elsewhere within the chassis.

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"Obviously, there is some damage but hopefully, it is mainly bodywork," said Raikkonen, who turned fire marshal as he took over the handling of an extinguisher from a track marshal, steering the nozzle into key areas to ensure it did not reignite.

"It is a different engine and gearbox than we run tomorrow. It is just a bit more work for the guys. Nothing scary about it. It is just a shame that it gets all messed up with trying to put the fire down. It is just one of those things.

"At least it happened to an engine and gearbox we were going to change in any case. It’s obviously a lot of work for the guys in the garage but we should be okay for tomorrow.”

Whilst Raikkonen finished the session 14th quickest, team-mate Antonio Giovinazzi could only manage 17th after missing first practice as Robert Kubica took over his car.

The Italian pointed to a lack of understanding with the tyres as an area for improvement ahead of the weekend.

"It was not easy," he explained. "Missing FP1 and jumping into FP2 was not easy to get back the speed in the first part of the session.

"On the quail sim, we missed something for sure and we need to be better. The race pace, we just did three laps so not an easy session.

"The window of the tyres was not right, we didn't turn on the tyres and we missed quite a lot there so we need to do a better job in terms of tyre temperature [in qualifying].

"Hopefully we can do a lot better. When you don't turn on the tyres, you are missing grip everywhere."