Raikkonen unable to find confidence to attack for pole

Kimi Raikkonen says he was unable to challenge for pole position for the Brazilian Grand Prix after missing “full confidence” to attack on his final Q3 lap but was satisfied with third place on the grid.

The Ferrari driver profited from leaping ahead of both Red Bull drivers having missed out in practice while also benefitting from Lewis Hamilton’s early Q1 exit with a crash to enable Raikkonen to head up the second row with Max Verstappen alongside him. Despite reaching the top three the Finnish driver wasn’t overly thrilled with his performance having been out-qualified by team-mate Sebastian Vettel and missing out on the front row.

Raikkonen explained he lacked confidence to wrestle his Ferrari around the first section and Senna S curves due to a lack of grip which ultimately restrained his charge for a potential second pole position of the year.

“I think the feeling was pretty good on some laps but it was a bit tricky to have full confidence going into the first corner to be sure the car was okay from the cars behind me,” Raikkonen said. “That was really the most difficult thing.

“Some sets of tyres were better than others but on the last set of tyres I actually had more grip than I expected. Not ideal but not too bad I think the car was okay for its position. Tomorrow is a long race but we should be okay.”