Australian Grand Prix winner Kimi Raikkonen has admitted he had his doubts that he could drive his Lotus to victory at Albert Park, Melbourne on Sunday.
The Flying Finn won the season-opening Grand Prix by 12 seconds ahead of Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso in second and pole position winner Sebastian Vettel in third. Raikkonen had qualified seventh but defied the odds for glory.
“I had doubts before the race because I didn’t know how the race would go,” Raikkonen said.
“But I knew I had a good car and didn’t give up hope. I was a bit disappointed after qualifying. I made a mistake and I didn’t get it right.
“But it was still 10 places better than last year and not a complete disaster. I knew my car was quite good and it was feeling good all week.
“I knew if we could make the front tyres last, it would be fine. It was the first race so we didn’t know what would happen, but I survived.”
Meanwhile, Vettel said he didn’t even realise Raikkonen was in the mix for glory, after Lotus pulled off a two-stop strategy, while the German and Alonso made three stops.
“I have to admit I was quite surprised when I was missing one position,” Vettel said.
“In my calculations all the cars I saw made sense, but I never saw Kimi in the race. But he ended up way in front of us and I saw him on TV.”