Kimi Raikkonen has revealed he was fortunate not to sustain a puncture or worse after a high-speed brush with the wall during the Azerbaijan GP on Sunday.
The Finn was forced into a recovery back through the field after colliding with Esteban Ocon at Turn 3 on the opening lap, an incident which resulted in the first Safety Car during the crazy race.
And, by after completing 43 laps on the Soft compound tyre, Raikkonen would benefit from the late switch to Ultrasofts, a spate of retirements and the mistake of this teammate Sebastian Vettel to finish second behind race winner Lewis Hamilton.
“I had a good feeling sometimes but was struggling to switch the tyres on, it was kind of on and off,” he explained
“I had a great many close moments. Even on the way to the grid, I was pretty certain that it’s in the wall already but I managed to get it away from it. Too many close calls.”
It was then he revealed the moment that wasn’t picked up on camera that could well have ended his race early.
“I think on the first lap, after the restart, on the little kink, coming on the last part of the straight, I hit the inside wall at full speed so I’m pretty lucky that the front wheel didn’t go,” he said.
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Once that brief scare had passed, the 2007 world champion admits having seen how Max Verstappen and Daniel Ricciardo were fighting from behind, he wasn’t surprised by their eventual collision.
“Looking at what they were doing earlier in the race it was pretty certain something will happen later on when they get close to each other,” Raikkonen claimed.
“Everything changed after that and once put the other tyres on and again it felt OK and it all played into our hands.”
