Kimi Raikkonen was disappointed not to score after an incredible opening lap left his rivals in shock at the Portuguese Grand Prix.
Starting 16th, the 2007 world champion overtook 11 cars to run sixth a little over a lap later as he found all the right lines in slippery conditions around Portimao.
It was a lap some might compare to Ayrton Senna’s famous Lap 1 at Donington in 1993 and certainly, it left those around him scratching their heads.
“I had Kimi behind me,” said Max Verstappen. “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. He must have been P6?”
Daniel Ricciardo echoed his former Red Bull teammate.
“I was like ‘where did he come from?!’,” he admitted. “I wasn’t thinking ‘get out of my way’, I felt like he’d earned his spot.
“Obviously the first few laps were mega from Kimi, but it felt like he had the pace to hold it.
“I eventually got past him, but his pace wasn’t slow. On the medium, I had to defend in the first few laps and he was hanging with me.
“I could see in my mirrors, he had some decent pace.
“Obviously all deserved, when I’m fighting an Alfa, we’re probably not on for a podium today, but he had some really decent pace. That was my battle for today, I had to accept it.”
Lewis Hamilton also had this rather concerning comment for anyone who has aspirations of beating him anytime soon…
“Shows you can still do it at 40!” he said, bear in mind Kimi is now 41.
As for Raikkonen himself, he also admitted some surprise at his progress.
“I don’t think the start itself was very good – I lost a place – but then after that honestly I thought at one point ‘what are the others doing?’” he told Formula1.com.
“I had a good first and then second lap, the speed was decent in the car most of the race.”
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Unfortunately, however, there was no reward as the Finn crossed the line 11th, just outside the points.
“We had few difficulties in the pit stop and in the end, I lost 10th place to Vettel with old tyres,” he added.
“We got nothing out of it, so that’s a shame. We need more speed then everything will become a little bit easier.”
Still, Raikkonen now heads to Imola next weekend as the only current driver on the grid to have raced in F1 at the famous circuit when it last held the San Marino GP back in 2006.
