Kimi Raikkonen says he had to take an aggressive approach on the opening lap in Spain due to Alfa Romeo’s slow pace, in the wake of going off-track.
Alfa Romeo put in its least competitive showing of the campaign so far at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, with Raikkonen lining up only 14th on the grid.
Raikkonen tried making up ground but went wide through Turn 4 and dropped to the rear of the pack as a result.
The Finn came home in 14th place, marking the first time in 2019 that he and Alfa Romeo failed to reach the points.
“I had to try to do something in the first lap to gain places, otherwise nothing would really happen, so I was pushing very hard but ended up going wide,” he said.
“It was very slippery with the Medium compound tyres and I [nearly] spun in Turn 3.
“Still, I still decided to go for it, nearly lost the rear again and got a little bit wide. I nearly managed to stop it on the edge of the tarmac but once I put the left rear wheel on the gravel it took a bit to get the car back.
“I think after that we never really had the speed. Just at the end we had the speed to go with the guys right in front of us, but there wasn’t much we could do with that. For sure it was not an easy weekend.”
Team-mate Antonio Giovinazzi, still without a point in 2019, finished 16th, ahead of only the Williams drivers.
“It was not an easy weekend for us,” said Giovinazzi. “We started the race from P18 and went with a bit of different strategy to try and gain some positions, in the end it didn’t work because the pace just was not there.
“We need to work hard to have a better package in Monaco and achieve a better result. The midfield battle is tight and we have shown in the past we can be in this fight.”
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