Kimi Raikkonen's "game" that led to bizarre pit-lane incident

Raikkonen, Alfa Romeo, Belgium — Photo: © LAT Images

Belgian Grand Prix

Raikkonen's "game" that led to bizarre pit-lane incident

Raikkonen collided with the pit-entry wall in FP1

Ewan Gale

Friday 27 August 2021 20:15

Alfa Romeo team principal Fred Vasseur has explained the circumstances around Kimi Raikkonen's bizarre pit-lane crash in practice for the Belgian Grand Prix.

During FP1, Raikkonen collected the inside wall on the entry to the narrow pit lane at Spa-Francorchamps, with the damage sustained to the front-left of the car forcing him to sit out the final 15 minutes.

The incident followed an earlier spin in damp conditions at La Source as Raikkonen struggled to get to grips at a track he has won at four times.

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"It was not a big crash but the floor was a little bit damaged," said Vasseur. "We were not able to repair it in the last 15 minutes.

"It is the game. At a pit stop, we are fighting for tenths. But very, very often, you have a couple of tenths or sometimes seconds in the pit entry and pit exit.

"Part of the job is to push at the pit entry and pit exit and you have just one or two attempts per weekend to do it."

Alfa Romeo left with "work to be done"

The weather at Spa was changeable throughout the day with the first session starting in damp conditions whilst a heavy shower forecast for the second session fell early to disrupt F3 qualifying before drying up for F1.

"It looked like it would definitely be a wet session in FP2 but it turned out to be dry," said Raikkonen, when asked for Alfa Romeo's weekend prospects.

"We will see how the weather will turn out to be and obviously it will be the same for everybody.

"The second session was better, there is still some work to be done but with the weather and everything hopefully we can improve."