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Raikkonen "lucky" in Baku melee

18:29, 30 Apr 2018

byJake Williams-Smith

Kimi Raikkonen believes he was lucky to finish the Azerbaijan Grand Prix at all. The Finn was hit by Force India's Esteban Ocon on the opening lap and then had it all to do, working his way back through the field and eventually went on to finish in second position.

The Ferrari driver was in the wars throughout the duration of the race.

“I’m pretty lucky that the front wheel didn’t go. I was expecting to go off quite fast, but I was lucky.”

He was lucky to even start the race after “almost put it in the wall on the way to the grid”, he added.

“I had a lot of close moments,” he said. “We were kind of a bit on the limit, it was not the easiest. It was not the most enjoyable, some laps very good and some laps I had to try not to hit the wall.

“The feeling was there but not consistently, so I thought ‘OK, I just try to go as fast as I can but a little bit safer’.

“Maybe today certain things worked in our directions but whatever happened in front, it’s self-made issues in many ways.

“The Red Bulls, look what they were going to do, I was pretty certain something was going to happen later when they got close to each other.

“We stayed out of trouble, in this kind of race, knowing what happened last year, it’s going to pay off.”