Hours after the chequered flag in Spain, Kimi Raikkonen’s “long talks” with Ferrari officials were dragging on.
That is the claim of the Finnish broadcaster MTV3, reporting that the Finn was unhappy with his treatment by the Italian team in Sunday’s Spanish grand prix. Raikkonen answered “no” when asked if he now feels like the number two driver at Maranello, because Fernando Alonso received first call for pit service despite running behind the normally ice-cool 2007 world champion in Barcelona.
He was, however, furious. In a television interview for Britain’s Sky, the 34-year-old answered “I don’t know” when he was asked who made the decision to pit Alonso first — an advantageous tactic usually reserved for a team’s leading driver. Asked if he wanted to pit before Alonso, Raikkonen mumbled, shrugged, and stormed off. Later, having been beaten in the race by Alonso, he played down the strategy incident, according to Germany’s Auto Motor und Sport. “There was not much between the two,” said Raikkonen. “In the end it makes no difference. It was a very disappointing result for Ferrari.”
But on the slowing down lap after the chequered flag, Raikkonen is reported to have angrily asked on the radio: ‘Exactly who made this (pitstop) decision?”
