Raikkonen ‘knew where he would finish’ in “boring” Monaco GP 

Kimi Raikkonen says he knew where he would finish in the Monaco Grand Prix as soon as he exited the first corner, labelling the 78-lap Formula 1 race as “boring”. 

The Ferrari driver started and finished fourth in Monte Carlo in what was a relatively lonely run to the flag. Raikkonen closed up to the Mercedes of Lewis Hamilton at times but admits he never felt in a position to challenge for the final podium spot. 

“Qualifying dictates most of the things, and honestly not an awful lot happened,” Raikkonen said. “The start is kind another deciding part and then everybody was just driving behind each other. 

“It’s just boring. The guy that is immediately in front of you dictates the speed and it needs to be a massive mistake or issue to get past him. That’s pretty much what happened – we ended up driving 78 laps just around, finish the race. It was not the most exciting, for sure.

“You can go four or five seconds per lap slower or be at maximum speed, but if you’re just fast enough in the right places no one can pass you,” he added. “The cars now are quite wide compared to a few years ago and if you put it on the middle of the road in some places it’s very unlikely that anybody will go pass you. 

“Maybe it sometimes looks exciting but, to be honest, as a driver we kind of knew what would happen after the start, whatever position you’re in and especially after the pit stops, in whatever position you’re in that’s it. You’re hoping some weird thing to happen to gain any positions.”

Raikkonen came under threat from Valtteri Bottas in the closing stages, with the Mercedes driver opting for an alternative strategy by becoming the only driver inside the top five to switch onto the red-marked Supersoft compound, though Raikkonen insists he was never concerned about losing his position. 

“He tried a few times to get close, but, like I said, we were all –or at least for me – cruising around and if I couldn’t get past Hamilton, then he wasn’t going to pass me,” he explained. "I could speed up when I needed and I don’t think whatever tyres we or them might have been in, it wouldn’t make a difference. 

“It wasn’t like we were dead slow, we were slow because we chose to be and there was no chance to pass the guy in front. We could get the speed up when we needed.”