Tyre warmer burned Raikkonen’s tyres

2015 Spanish Grand Prix

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Following his poor result in qualifying Kimi Raikkonen revealed one of his sets of the softer medium compound tyre was damaged by a tyre warmer.

Raikkonen qualified seventh, almost a second slower than team mate Sebastian Vettel, and had been unhappy with his car’s balance throughout practice.

“So far the weekend has been more difficult than I wanted and today I was still struggling,” he said, “for some reason my car was sliding around.”

“In Q2 the feeling was pretty OK but then in Q3 it was difficult again,” Raikkonen added, “I had not much grip and did a bad lap.”

“It’s one of those weekends in which things keep going a little wrong here and there, and today we also lost one set of medium tyres because of a burning of a blanket.”

Ferrari has brought a substantial aerodynamic upgrade this weekend but Raikkonen is not using all of the new components as he explained.

“After a difficult Friday I decided together with the team to go back to the old package because I wanted to make sure it was fine,” he said. “We knew it would be a risk and it might be difficult but I don’t think that the result would have been as bad as it was today.”

“Obviously we start in a position that is not ideal, but we have a good package,” he added. “If we have a good start we can go from there, I’m sure we have the speed to have a good race.”

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    Keith Collantine
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    49 comments on “Tyre warmer burned Raikkonen’s tyres”

    1. The tire warmer caught fire or they just left them on too long…???

      1. From the way that Kimi has phrased it, it would seem to suggest that there might have been an electrical fire (although I’ve not heard of a tyre blanket malfunctioning in that way before, that would be the most logical explanation I can think of).

        1. was that the set he qualified 7th on?

          1. @scuderia_fan85

            No. Kimi used only one set of used mediums in Q3. Those burnt tyres were brand new and were destroyed.

        2. @scuderia_fan85 Bottas had a similar incident to that last year in Russia. They didn’t leave it on for too long, I think that wouldn’t make much difference as the warmers keep them at a temperature. So probably something like electrical fire happened in both cases, or just the electronics got something wrong and went to a crazy high temperature.

          1. Yeah I remember this happening before. It really happens, he is not making stuff up I mean.

          2. Joe (@joetoml1n)
            10th May 2015, 8:18

            In fact leaving them heated for too long can damage the compound. Pirellii advise maximum and recommened lengths of times that the tyres should be in the blankets.

      2. How can Kimi always have (especially with Ferrari) the problems with car, strategic or something else, latest on qualifying ? Now latest in Belgium 22.08.2015. Do they sabotage Kimi all time and don’t give any chance ?

        1. After watching that start of today’s race i am convinced there is plan at Ferrari to sabotage Kimi. He does everything right but car/team always get things wrong. How come Vettel never has mechanical glitches? It doesn’t make sense. They mysteriously when Rosberg is just about too pass vettel his engine blows, first time ever for mercedes. The race being in Italy and Formula 1 desolate for fans support adv the tifosi out in big numbers??? Is formula 1 just a choreographed show?

    2. Just sort yourself out Kimi…Your fans will point to this tyre blanket as if it is the original sin that will bring the anti-christ on this earth but we all just know 2013 was your peak…Just go retire somewhere and enjoy your millions!As for Ferrari they better trade Gutierrez for Hulkenberg!We need some German efficiency and discipline back!Not this Finicky Finnish “whatever/i know what i’m doing/just bad luck” attitude

      1. OmarR-Pepper - Vettel 40 victories!!! (@)
        9th May 2015, 16:49

        I’m a Kimi fan, but it starts to become evident that Kimi started going down in 2014 (but it was somehow masked by the usual Alonso’s good performance) and now Vettel has found the sweet spot of his Ferrari, while Kimi is struggling again (and Vettel’s style is more similar to Kimi’s one). I don’t want to see Kimi faltering like Webber did in the end, or like Schumi did. If it’s time to step back, he should do it, more now, that a family is waiting for him in the end of the day.

        1. i was a huge Kimi fan when he entered f1.in 02-05 kimi was mega. i thought he started going downhill in 2006/2007, especially when massa equalled and beat him, and team orders and hamiltons failure in last 2 races gave kimi the championship win in 2007 – he was not the best driver that year. when he raced for lotus(renault), he got good results because of strategy, but not necessarily speed, and his teammate was a midfield level driver. in the most recent race, his drive was hailed, and worthily so,, but he only went to the race strategy he went to because he was slower then his teammate by a lot in the first stint of the race, he would not have got that strategy opportunity if he was a faster driver and drove the lap times vettel did at the start of the race – it was a second choice strategy, which worked, but would have been risky to choose for the driver in front (vettel). lets see how the season pans out, but i think vettel will dominate raikonnen overall, and i dont think raikonnen will get a race win – raikonnen will be king of second choice strategy, making up places during the race, because he isnt fast enough to be near the front at the start.

          1. You are way off with you analysis. Especially on last race. Kimi was faster than Vettel in first stint. But it may be because Vettel had lock ups and got his tyres shot. His race pace is good. We are not sure if it is better or equal with Vettel actually. People said he was faster in previous races, but like you said he was on a different strategy and Vettel was keeping up with Mercs and never in the clean air that Raikkonen was. He had lots of problems since Friday, so did Vettel to a lesser extent. People just write off Kimi or Sebastian from one race to the next depending on whoever gains the most positions or seems like slightly faster than the other.
            Since Raikkonen is generally behind Vettel he sometimes has the benefit of getting the faster strategy like Bahrain and catching Mercs unawareness. Even though he is not slower through no fault of his own, Sebastian might end up behind Kimi in some of those races. If Ferrari can keep up with Mercs that is!

          2. Massa beating Kimi in 2008 is a whole can of worms better left unopened. There was so much going on behind the scenes…

            1. Such as?

      2. Bad luck is right. When it’s all good like Bahrain, u see what he can do and is still a top three driver. Which driver is not finnicky?????

      3. Simon (@weeniebeenie)
        9th May 2015, 16:53

        Don’t think he’s reading this blog fella.

        1. You sir, win todays internet.

        2. Very right indeed my friend…Just being an armchair dispenser of advice to the fullest!To be honest i don’t take F1 soo seriously to the point of threatening to not follow it or getting angry at Ecclestone or Pirelli like some others,mostly my comments are to stir reactions and see what other (hopefully balanced) readers of this site think…Oh yea and i’m a Ferrari and Hulk fan so there you go ;) :)

      4. The tyres were truly destroyed: Pirelli gave Kimi a new set of Medium today. So you are not right.

    3. @Lenny

      but we all just know 2013 was your peak

      I am not sure of in which alternate universe Raikkonen was better in 2013 than he was in 2003, 2005 and 2007.

      1. He had the longest run of consistency in the sport, don’t remember the exact number but over the course of 2 season he had 20-25 odd top ten finishes without a single contact or dent in the bodywork; not blisteringly fast as in the earlier part of his career but the good results in a good (not excellent) Lotus coupled with the experience of staying out of trouble made him more complete than he ever was at any other point.That is what i meant.

        1. Problem is he was probably at the peak of his career at that point in 2013. Or should I say towards the end of his peak? Unfortunately we didn’t get to see him at peak tough, because Ferrari needed to rebuild their wind tunnel and Massa&Alonso pair seemed like the most lucrative option.

      2. Trend for the last bunch of champs seems like they have their first shot at the early part of their career and then around 30 again. First time people realize what a talented guy he is, maybe gets a championship (4 in Vettel’s case, 2 for Alonso), then hits a rough patch. But if he can his act together and get in a good car, he gets another shot when he is an all around better driver and more mature.

    4. F1 fans are the most fickle of those in any sport. After the last GP everyone was singing Kimi’s praises, and now one qualifying session later he needs to retire at once!

      1. Will apply to any human actually. You should see the Football lot.

      2. pxcmerc (@)
        9th May 2015, 17:46

        considering he was using an out of spec car, had ERS issues and tires that got burnt up by the blankets … well, it kind kind of underscores the lack of reasoning in the nature of the people going on about how poorly Kimi performed. Don’t be surprised if Vettel has issues with his front end again this race and Kimi makes up a few places.

        1. Of course he did perform poorly. But a drivers performance has to be measured over a longer time period than just his last result.

          The tyres this season seem almost as difficult as in early 2012. A lot of drivers are struggling for grip, both visibly and vocally.

          1. pxcmerc (@)
            9th May 2015, 18:16

            yeah, he was on burnt tires that provided very little grip. If Vettel had been on burnt tires, he probably would not be 3rd on the grid.

            1. It said he burned 1 set. He did 2 fast laps in Q3 on different sets, one used, one new.

              Vettel’s times were 1:25.548 and 1:25:480
              Raikkonen’s times were 1:27:172 and 1:26:414

              First set for Raikkonen was used, second set was new. They didn’t use the burned tyres (which is why he went out on used to start with).

          2. Getting these tyres right is still a weather dependent lottery.

        2. Erm..The car isn’t “out of spec” or a 1999 car like you seem to want to point out,it is the base car for the whole season (scored podiums and a victory so no slouch) and he chose himself to not have some (not all) of the updates onboard!Also don’t invent any ERS issues cause it’s not reported anywhere.He had a poor qualy and so far this season Vettel has been consistently better, as simple as that

          1. He had ERS issues. You should pay more attention. It was reported on radio by his engineer that the setup was wrong and something like ERS was not charging. As simple as that.

    5. It’s incredibly tedious to listen to how Sky F1 team constantly create dramas when there is none. This week it was about the Ferrari drivers carrying different packages. It was obvious from the drivers’ reactions, Kimi hated it, Seb was not entirely happy but didn’t mind it too much. It’s no brainer why Kimi went for the older set-up. Yet according to Ted/David/Martin it’s either Seb pretending to like the new set to stamp his authority as the lead driver in the team or Ferrari favoring Seb over Kimi. *Sigh*

      1. Yup, artificial drama. Pathetic.

      2. They got a lot of mileage out of the equally phoney “Vettel stole Webbers front wing!” story so I guess you can’t blame them trying the same thing again.

        1. There was nothing ‘phoney’ about that wing gate saga.

          1. Here we go…

      3. Aye. Overall, I think the Sky F1 coverage is brilliant, or at least better than any other I’ve tried (and I’ve tried a lot of them, from a lot of countries, in a lot of languages). But as soon as Räikkönen’s concerned, some of them turn into 13 year old fangirls who know nothing about F1 except that it’s all one gigantic conspiracy to ruin Räikkönen’s carreer.
        In his best moments, Ted Kravitz can unearth the missing piece without which our understanding wouldn’t be complete, but in his worst moments, he sounds just like that bloke who writes the very duly named F1bias blog.

        For Bernie’s sake (I should say “God”, but that’s a no-go as an Atheist. So I prefer to name the one omnipotent being I know exists and interferes with our lives), Räikkönen is racing the older aero package, because he chose to do so, not because Ferrari likes to sabotage him to make sure Vettel comes out ahead.

        1. LOL I was thinking the same thing: “Please let it be Kimi’s and the team’s joint decision, so none of them are blamed and people don’t create more drama”
          Also, I love Kimi, but Kravitz is like a Kimi fanboy lol :D

      4. I prayed Kimi would get a decent quali position even if he is 3rd or 4th around Vettel somewhere, because I just knew otherwise it would be turned into another “Webber’s front wing” drama.

    6. I’m sure this is somehow Fernando’s fault.

      1. @nase
        It’s actually renaults fault :)
        Then Honda

      2. Lol! yeah Alonso sent some form of juju across Ferrari’s pit but it went awfully wrong and messed up.
        In fact it was meant for Vettel.

    7. Losing a new set of mediums is not good for Kimi as its the better choice during race.
      Just maybe Kimi will have a very good run regardless hard or mediums.

    8. wrong settings during practice, tyres burnt… Classic ferrari way of saying “you’re number 2”.

      what’s the betting some mechanical failure will happen during the odd occasion when he outperforms vettel?

    9. There are rumors circulating about Kimi getting a new set of mediums for the race to replace the damaged set. Didn’t find any documents about this from FIA site yet.

    10. lol, #331 in the book of excuses…

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