I don’t believe in doing crazy things: Raikkonen

Kimi Raikkonen won his first race in nearly six years as Ferrari showed their superior pace over Mercedes and Red Bull for the first time in two months. It was his 21st victory in F1, making him the undisputed leader on the list of Finnish drivers with most wins.

Now, we know Raikkonen is a man of little words and quite simple in his demeanour, with his press conferences always a goldmine for meme-makers. The Iceman has said that he likes to be the same way on track too.

“My purpose is not to be any more aggressive against him than anybody else. I don’t believe in doing crazy things. I want to do my race and do the best that I can do,”  Raikkonen told ESPN when asked about his stout defence from Hamilton in the early stages.

He also admitted that he did not think about impeding Hamilton’s chances of winning the title, and thus helping his own teammate get a little bit closer. “If it impacts the championship then that’s how it is but I will not do any crazy stuff to be a part of it,” said Raikkonen.

“My job is purely to try to do win, I’m here for that and I will play as fair as is possible and that’s how it’s going to be and how it’s always going to be. We know what is fair and what is not and I got a bit close once because I lost a bit of grip but there was nothing crazy going on.”

For the first time in many races, Mercedes appeared to get their strategies wrong for their main man as they brought him in on the basis of what Raikkonen was doing and not Hamilton’s own tyre wear.

He did have a chance towards the end of the race as he got very close to Max Verstappen but the Dutchman put up a mighty stiff fight and the Brit ran out of laps to make his move. He later said that maybe he accorded too much respect to the Red Bull driver.