Sunday: Räikkönen and Grosjean finish on the podium
For his fourth race since his return to F1, Kimi Räikkönen secures his first podium. The Finn finishes second in Bahrain but feels a sense of unfinished business as he believes victory was within his reach. His teammate at Lotus F1, Romain Grosjean, also finishes on the podium, marking his first in F1 and the first by a French driver in F1 since 1998.
Kimi Räikkönen – 2nd
« This is a superb result for the team and we deserve it because everyone worked very hard. To be honest, I’m a bit disappointed not to have won because we had the pace for it. I only had one chance to overtake Sebastian (Vettel) and unfortunately, I chose the wrong side to try to get past him.
If I hadn’t made a small mistake at the start which allowed Felipe (Massa) to pass me, maybe it would have been a different story, because we spent quite a bit of time fighting. In the end, it’s good to have both cars on the podium, especially after the last race which didn’t go as planned, but I honestly think we could have clinched the victory today.
Romain Grosjean – 3rd
«It’s an incredible feeling to secure my first podium and I’m really proud of the entire team for the incredible work accomplished today. We’ve always known that the car could be fast, but with such a tight field, even the slightest mistake can make a huge difference. Today, I think we managed to do everything right, and we were finally able to prove just how competitive we are.
Last week, I was hoping for my first points, this week, I was hoping for a top 5, but here we are on the podium, so who knows how far we can go! We can truly be very happy with what we’ve achieved today; let’s hope we can get to the Mugello tests and find that little extra that will place us even higher.
