Kimi Räikkönen: “It was nice to get points and bring a reward to the team”

Kimi Räikkönen says it was nice to return to the points in Sunday’s Mexico City Grand Prix, with the Finn securing an excellent eighth place finish at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez.

The Alfa Romeo Racing ORLEN driver admitted passing Williams Racing’s George Russell early on was key to scoring only his fourth top-ten finish of 2021, with the eighth place equalling his best result of the season from the Russian Grand Prix.

Räikkönen says Alfa Romeo can be satisfied with the result in Mexico, and they can take confidence into this weekend’s São Paulo Grand Prix where he hopes they can be fighting for points once more.

“It was nice to get points and bring a reward to the team,” said Räikkönen.  “We always try to do our best, every time we get to a race, and today things worked out well for us.

“P8 is probably the best we could do, we had good pace and we could keep up with the cars around us. Passing Russell at the beginning was crucial for our race, then the biggest challenge was to keep the tyres alive until the end.

“We can be satisfied about this result and start focusing on having another good event in Brazil.”

“I’m really disappointed about this result” – Antonio Giovinazzi

Team-mate Antonio Giovinazzi admitted it was disappointing not to join Räikkönen inside the top ten in Mexico City, particularly after running as high as sixth on the opening lap of the race.

The Italian, who’s place at the team remains under threat for 2022, was passed by Carlos Sainz Jr. at the restart following the early safety car but ran seventh until he made his pit stop.

However, the time lost behind the battling Daniel Ricciardo and Valtteri Bottas meant that other drivers were able to jump ahead of him when they made their own stops, with Giovinazzi ending outside the points in eleventh at the chequered flag.

“I’m really disappointed about this result as I think we could have been in the points with both cars,” admitted Giovinazzi.  “I had an outstanding first lap and made it up to P6, and even when Sainz passed me I was looking strong for seventh.

“We pitted early but ended up in the battle between Bottas and Ricciardo and this cost us a lot of time – ultimately, the chance to score points. We had really good pace, I’m happy for the points Kimi scored but this one is really disappointing.”

Antonio Giovinazzi missed out on points in Mexico City despite running as high as sixth in the early laps – Credit: Antonin Vincent / DPPI