Raikkonen rues 'sh*t end result' as red flag stunts qualifying

Kimi Raikkonen was left to regret posting his worst lap of qualifying in the final session - just before the red flags appeared to deny him a chance to improve.

The Finn appeared to have the upper hand on Ferrari team-mate - and three-time 2015 race winner - Sebastian Vettel through the first two phases of the timed session, but dropped behind the German after their first runs in Q3. When Daniil Kvyat crashed before anyone had had the chance to complete a second flying lap, the grid was set as time ran out.

"The end was disappointing as we had good speed all the way through, but a bit average feeling on the first run in last qualifying," Raikkonen lamented, "Then there was the red flag, so it was a bit shit end result. But it is what it is...

"The first two qualifying runs were good and then that one set [of tyres] just didn't have the grip and feeling. It felt a bit better again on that last lap, but we didn't manage to do the full lap with the red flag, so it ended up costing us quite a bit."

With rain washing out Friday's two practice sessions, preparations for qualifying and racing in the dry had to be completed in the 60 minutes allocated for FP3 on Saturday morning but, despite the rush, Raikkonen was happy with the car he had for qualifying and hopes to be a competitive on race day.

"I think the car was pretty good [after FP3] - like I said, it was just one average lap that ended up costing us a lot because there was a red flag [in qualifying]," he emphasised, "The car behaviour has been pretty fine, but is a little unknown for the race because nobody has had the time to do any long running. We should be fine, but we'll see...

"I think [the track] was pretty okay. Since the morning, it improved a bit all the time, but I didn't really feel that there was a massive gain. The lap time was faster, but then that's what you were expecting. The time was pretty okay for the conditions."

With the Williams pair of Valtteri Bottas and Felipe Massa claiming third and fifth on the grid to sandwich and split the Ferraris of Vettel and Raikkonen, the Finn says he is keen to make a good getaway in order to put the white machines behind him.

"We will try to make a good start and go from there," he confirmed, "Obviously, as I have said, it is a bit unknown for the race as there wasn't much running in dry conditions, but hopefully we have all the correct things for the race and can gain positions because it is going to be a long race if you are stuck behind people."