Kimi Raikkonen believes several errors during qualifying cost him a chance of starting on the front row alongside polesitter Nico Rosberg.
Raikkonen qualified fourth, behind teammate Sebastian Vettel and Williams’ Valtteri Bottas. With Vettel picking up a five-place grid penalty and Hamilton unable to take part in Q3 due to an ERS failure, Raikkonen was favourite to take second on the grid.
Unfortunately for the Finn, like in China, he struggled with the balance of his SF16-H in qualifying which meant he qualified fourth.
“I ran wide in the last corner but I’d been struggling all weekend to put any decent laps together,” said Raikkonen.
“It was better in qualifying but I was still fighting with the fronts a bit in a few places.
“It was one of those days I think. The whole weekend I’ve been fighting with the set-up to find it and make the tyres work as we want.
“There’s been a few corners there I’ve been fighting all weekend. I think the last lap was pretty decent but in places it was still not ideal.
“Then I f***** it up in the last corner but it could’ve been an awful lot worse.”
Raikkonen has finished on the podium once this season, a third place at the Bahrain Grand Prix.
