Early Raikkonen pitstop wasn't strategy but an issue

Alfa Romeo driver Kimi Raikkonen has revealed that his early pitstop wasn't a strategic decision or an undercut attempt, but rather an issue on the car as one of the visor tear-offs had gotten stuck in his brakes.

The Finn, who switched from Ferrari to Alfa Romeo for the coming two years, qualified in ninth on Saturday and was the first driver to come in for new tyres (except for Daniel Ricciardo and Robert Kubica, who had both lost their front wings).

This forced other teams' hands as well, but the decision from Alfa to stop early wasn't a strategic one.

“We had an issue with the temperature of the rear brakes as one of the tear-offs from the visor went in and that’s why we had to pit earlier than planned,” Raikkonen told Crash.net. 

Apart from that, the veteran had a good race as he finished in eighth, bringing home four points for Alfa. He was happy with how the car behaved and with the result

“The car has a lot of speed and it felt good.

“Our car was pretty strong in the race, but then we got stuck behind cars and there is not much you can do. It seems that it is easier to get closer to the car in front of you but it’s still very hard to overtake.”