Kimi Raikkonen had no fear of Vettel in Hungary

Kimi Raikkonen (L) speaking to Sebastien Vettel

Kimi Raikkonen said he was not worried about losing second place to Sebastian Vettel in the closing stages of the Hungarian Grand Prix.

Raikkonen fended off Vettel in the final ten laps despite being on tyres 13 laps older than the Red Bulls. Vettel, who had made three pit stops to Raikkonen’s two, tried to pass three laps from the end at Turn 4 but was left with nowhere to go and had to take to the run off zone.

“I knew it was going to be a bit tight, but the tyres felt good with 10 laps to go and it was only in the last two laps that they dropped off quite badly,” Raikkonen explained. “I didn’t really have any doubts that I could keep him behind and I had a good speed in the last sector so I knew in the first corner he would not have a chance.“Obviously you take a chance when you make so many laps with one set of tyres, but the team worked well and everything went well for us. Unfortunately yesterday [qualifying] wasn’t good for us otherwise we could probably have fought for the win. But second is better than nothing.”

Raikkonen said improving his qualifying performances would be crucial at future races after starting from sixth on the grid in Hungary.

“I keep making my life difficult on Saturdays so then we pay a price,” he said. “But I had a good car and we managed to do two stops – that was the only way really to jump people. In the end it was quite close with Seb but it paid off for us and we gained some points in the championship.”