It was the worst start imaginable for Alfa Romeo when Kimi Räikkönen collided with teammate Antonio Giovinazzi at the end of the very first lap.
The incident forced Räikkönen to retire from the race and brought out a very early safety car. It was especially disappointing because the Alfa Romeos had actually looked competitive on the track.
“You never want to have contact with your team-mate, and this time unfortunately it was my mistake,” said Räikkönen.
“I got caught out by the slipstream and ended up driving into Antonio. I couldn’t do much after that, the front wing got stuck under the car and I couldn’t steer: all I could do was go straight into the gravel.
“It’s a disappointment as we looked like we had decent pace, I made a really good start and the race could have been positive. The only upside was that at least Antonio didn’t get any damage and was able to continue,” he added.
Faring worse
The former world champion will hope that no more of these incidents are in store for him. As for teammate Giovinazzi, it was an unfortunate incident and one where he was not to blame at all.
Having started the race at P12, there was a real chance for the Italian to bring some points home. The collision caused no damage to his car, and he was able to continue racing, but he finished twelfth, with no gains or losses.
“I feel we got all we could from the race today: it wasn’t possible to get any closer than this to the top ten. After the contact with Kimi, from which thankfully I didn’t get damage, and the Safety Car, nothing really happened in the front which made it really difficult to break into the points: I started 12th and finished there,” said Giovinazzi.
“I still had a fun race, some battles with Alonso and Vettel which kept me busy: I was happy to be able to pass Seb and keep both Aston Martins behind until the race. We will continue working hard to get into the points soon,” he concluded.
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