Lotus’ Kimi Raikkonen has blamed McLaren’s Sergio Perez for forcing him off the track during the Chinese Grand Prix.
The McLaren driver had been robust in his race-craft to the point of weaving in the race’s earlier stages, but until the incident with Raikkonen, the young Mexican had not made any actual contact with any of his rivals.
As Raikkonen finished the first of his three pit-stops, the Lotus came up against the two stopping McLaren in turn five and attempted to make a pass in the following corner.
However, Perez defended the position and sent the Lotus onto the grass, damaging its nosecone.
"I got a better run out of corner three and thought he would leave me enough space but he pushed me off the circuit," said Raikkonen after the race.
"I tried to avoid him but then was on the grass and kerb. [It] the kerb saved me as I had grip. I couldn't slow down and hit him in the rear," he continued. "I don't know if he could see me or how it happened. [But] there was no way for me to avoid it.”
Raikkonen also admitted after that whilst he suffered increased understeer due to incident, he expected the damage to be heavier considering how hard he hit the McLaren.
"I was surprised there was not much damage as I hit him quite hard," conceded the 2007 world champion.
"I was also a bit surprised that we didn't have more problems, just a bit too much understeer and destroying the front tyres because of that."
The McLaren driver had been robust in his race-craft to the point of weaving in the race’s earlier stages, but until the incident with Raikkonen, the young Mexican had not made any actual contact with any of his rivals.
As Raikkonen finished the first of his three pit-stops, the Lotus came up against the two stopping McLaren in turn five and attempted to make a pass in the following corner.
However, Perez defended the position and sent the Lotus onto the grass, damaging its nosecone.
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| Kimi Raikkonen, Lotus E21 (Photo: WRi2) |
"I got a better run out of corner three and thought he would leave me enough space but he pushed me off the circuit," said Raikkonen after the race.
"I tried to avoid him but then was on the grass and kerb. [It] the kerb saved me as I had grip. I couldn't slow down and hit him in the rear," he continued. "I don't know if he could see me or how it happened. [But] there was no way for me to avoid it.”
Raikkonen also admitted after that whilst he suffered increased understeer due to incident, he expected the damage to be heavier considering how hard he hit the McLaren.
"I was surprised there was not much damage as I hit him quite hard," conceded the 2007 world champion.
"I was also a bit surprised that we didn't have more problems, just a bit too much understeer and destroying the front tyres because of that."