Kimi Raikkonen crashes Ferrari into wall during winter testing
FERRARI have produced a series of strong performances in testing so far in 2017 but their progress was hampered today when Kimi Raikkonen crashed during the afternoon session.
Kimi Raikkonen was in the car for Ferrari today but crashed at turn three
Raikkonen’s best lap - a 1:20.406 - had put him third on the timing sheets although Valtteri Bottas had managed to go more than a second faster in the morning on the same soft tyre.
After Sebastian Vettel had racked up a mammoth 168 laps yesterday, Ferrari were hoping to put plenty of tarmac under them once again.
However, Raikkonen completed just 53 laps before losing control in the high-speed turn three.
The Finn emerged from the car unharmed but his machine had to be recovered from the gravel trap by the stewards and returned to the garage on a truck.
It was an unwelcome downer on what has been a very successful first six days of testing for Ferrari.
#Kimi7 went off track at turn 3. He’s ok. #F1Testing pic.twitter.com/0EyquOp0zo
— Scuderia Ferrari (@ScuderiaFerrari) March 8, 2017
The team have gone nine years without a title and have shown impressive pace and longevity in Barcelona so far.
Lewis Hamilton, who will drive alongside Bottas for defending champions Mercedes, even admitted he thought the Italian team were favourites ahead of the season.And he is not the only one optimistic about the pace of the Maranello.
Kimi Raikkonen went off at turn three and made contact with the barrier
Kimi Raikkonen emerged from the car unscathed
“I’ve been following the results of the Barcelona test and things are going well,” CEO Sergio Marchionne told Italian newspaper La Repubblica.
“The drivers are happy.
"Objectives? Winning for sure, but when it happens I cannot say.
“But I'm happy with how the car goes - it's a better car than last year, and not just because they have changed the rules but with how it was designed and put on the track.”