Raikkonen: We looked like amateurs today

Kimi Raikkonen was left unhappy after a loose manhole cover resulted in opening practice for the Azerbaijan Grand Prix being abandoned, saying the Formula 1 paddock “looked like amateurs” on Friday in Baku.

FP1 was red-flagged with less than 15 minutes of the session complete after Williams’ George Russell ran over the loose manhole cover and damaged his car, cracking the chassis of his FW42.

The remainder of the session was scrapped so safety checks could take place around the track, with more than 300 manhole covers requiring review.

Raikkonen expressed his annoyance at the issue following second practice, having lost half of his allocated running for the day as a result.

“Obviously it was far from ideal for everybody, and we looked like amateurs here today,” Raikkonen said.

“It’s up to the FIA to make sure the track is as best as possible. But it seems that every year, somewhere a drain cover comes loose or something flies off.

“They say they welded the drain covers, but obviously that one was far from welded today. It’s up to them to go and check them all, there’s plenty of people here, but the same thing has happened before here.

“Luckily nobody got hurt, but it obviously destroyed everybody’s day, plus for the people who came here to watch the practice.

“It’s far from ideal.”

Raikkonen finished FP2 14th in the final standings, but said it was impossible to properly say where Alfa Romeo stood in the pecking order.

“It was a confusing day for everyone,” Raikkonen said.

“It didn’t feel too bad. I think we managed to make the tyres work.”

Additional reporting by Julianne Cerasoli.