Raikkonen expects to avoid engine penalties at Suzuka
Kimi Raikkonen is expecting to avoid taking Formula 1 engine penalties for this weekend’s Japanese Grand Prix, despite suffering power unit trouble in Malaysia.
Raikkonen qualified second for the Sepang race, having missed out on pole by just 0.045 seconds, but failed to take the start when Ferrari encountered engine trouble on the way to the grid.
Ferrari suspects it could be a recurrence of the same problem that prevented teammate Sebastian Vettel from setting a timed lap in Malaysian GP qualifying, although analysis is still being conducted.
Raikkonen has used the maximum number of turbochargers and MGU-Hs in his allocation but has one more free change of internal combustion engine, MGU-K, energy store and control electronics.
When asked by Motorsport.com if he expected a penalty for Japan, following the engine problem in Malaysia, Raikkonen said: “No, we haven’t used our last engine and I don’t think the engine had any issue in here.
“It’s just the end result of whatever the issue was. I don’t see that we have an issue.”
Raikkonen said he was “not really” concerned about the problems Ferrari encountered on both sides of the garage in Malaysia.
He added: “It’s quite odd from us, we didn’t expect it. We didn’t have any so far and then we had two in two days. We have to find the reason.”
Though Ferrari has scored just 12 points to Mercedes’ 68 in the last two races, Raikkonen takes heart from the underlying performance of the car.
“We have a good package, but we have to make the most out of it,” he said. “It’s been a tough few weekends, but next weekend is a new chance again.
“The last couple of races we have had a very good car so you wouldn’t expect anything else.
“It’s a different circuit [Suzuka], but we go there like any race weekend and see where we are.”
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