Breaking news
Formula 1 Chinese GP
Vasseur had "fingers crossed" for Raikkonen reliability
Alfa Romeo Formula 1 team boss Frederic Vasseur admits that he had his fingers crossed during the Chinese GP due to concerns over the reliability of the Ferrari power unit in Kimi Raikkonen's car.
Adam Cooper
Published: Apr 15, 2019, 12:08 PM
Copy link
Share on Viber
Unlike rivals Haas, the Hinwil team had chosen not to take the new spec of control electronics offered by Ferrari after the problem suffered by Charles Leclerc during the Bahrain GP, and opted to stick with the first version.
On Saturday, Antonio Giovinazzi's qualifying session was ruined by a recurrence of the issue suffered by Leclerc, and the Italian was given a fresh example of the old spec for the race.
However, Raikkonen stuck with his original unit, and inevitably there was a risk that he too would have problems.
In the event, the Finn enjoyed a successful charge from 13th on the grid to ninth, logging points for the third race in a row after an aggressive drive.
"I had my fingers crossed on the pit wall," Vasseur told Motorsport.com. "It was not easy to push on the buttons! I think overall it was a good Sunday for us, we had a good recovery compared to yesterday.
"It's important for us to score points every race and be consistent. We know perfectly well that if we want to stay on the top of the rest – I don't care if it's P4 or P5 – if we want to stay like this we have to be consistent over all the races, and be able to score points in every single event."
Vasseur says that Raikkonen, who was frustrated to lose some performance in the closing stages while chasing the cars ahead, continues to impress the team.
"He's scoring points, even when he's starting 13th. He was a bit upset not to be able to catch Ricciardo and Perez at the end, which is a good sign!
"The pace was there, and I think we were even able to catch Ricciardo and Perez, but we had some small damage 10 laps before the end on the front. We also lost temperature in the front tyres, mainly due to the fact that we lost downforce."
We want your opinion!
What would you like to see on Motorsport.com?
Take our 5 minute survey.
- The Motorsport.com Team
Read and post comments
Read also :
Share Or Save This Story
Copy link
Share on Viber
Previous article Strategy left Renault with "miserable pace" in China
Next article Mercedes' double-stack pitstop had Bottas "very concerned"
Top Comments
There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?
View More & Comment
More from
Adam Cooper
RB: Tsunoda “mentally on a different level” in 2024
Formula 1
Formula 1
Japanese GP
RB: Tsunoda “mentally on a different level” in 2024
Andretti planning F2 and F3 entries to promote US talent to F1 team
Formula 1
Formula 1
Andretti planning F2 and F3 entries to promote US talent to F1 team
Andretti F1 team formally opens new Silverstone facility
Formula 1
Formula 1
Andretti F1 team formally opens new Silverstone facility
More from
Kimi Raikkonen
David Coulthard explains why Robin Raikkonen's rise resembles Max Verstappen's
Formula 1
Formula 1
Spanish GP
David Coulthard explains why Robin Raikkonen's rise resembles Max Verstappen's
On this day: Michael Schumacher wins… and stuns tifosi with F1 retirement
Formula 1
Formula 1
Italian GP
On this day: Michael Schumacher wins… and stuns tifosi with F1 retirement
Red Bull signs Kimi Raikkonen’s son as junior driver
Formula 1
Formula 1
Italian GP
Red Bull signs Kimi Raikkonen’s son as junior driver
More from
Alfa Romeo
What F1 history tells us about three-way title deciders
Formula 1
Formula 1
Abu Dhabi GP
What F1 history tells us about three-way title deciders
F1 cars from 1950 to 2025: Alfa Romeo 158 vs McLaren MCL39
Formula 1
Formula 1
F1 cars from 1950 to 2025: Alfa Romeo 158 vs McLaren MCL39
F1 reserve drivers: All the back-up racers for 2025
Formula 1
Formula 1
F1 reserve drivers: All the back-up racers for 2025
Latest news
Winners and losers from MotoGP’s contentious Qatar Grand Prix
MotoGP
MGP MotoGP
Qatar GP
2 min
Winners and losers from MotoGP’s contentious Qatar Grand Prix
Who slept worst last night: Fernando Alonso
Formula 1
F1 Formula 1
Sao Paulo GP
1 h
Who slept worst last night: Fernando Alonso
Carlos Ezpeleta: Qatar GP “noise” left MotoGP unnecessarily exposed
MotoGP
MGP MotoGP
Qatar GP
1 h
Carlos Ezpeleta: Qatar GP “noise” left MotoGP unnecessarily exposed
Feature
Discover prime content
Subscribe and access Motorsport.com with your ad-blocker.
From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.
You have 2 options:
- Become a subscriber.
- Disable your adblocker.
Subscribe now Already subscribed? Sign in here
Already disabled your adblocker?
Reload page
Manage Alerts
Subscribe