Formula One news

Ferrari paranoid over Raikkonen engine

After Felipe Massa's engine blew just three laps before the end of the Hungarian Grand Prix, Ferrari noted that Kimi Raikkonen, now running third, appeared to have a problem at the same time. 

"At the end, we told him to take it easy because we felt that we had a mechanical problem at the rear of the car so we didn't want to take any risks," Ferrari team boss Stefano Domenicali said. "We wanted him to bring the car home after what we saw unfortunately with Felipe on the same lap."

Did it have any bearing on Felipe's problem? "No, no, no. Completely different," emphasised Domenicali. "We saw there was something on the mechanical side on the rear that was not properly working."

So going into the next race, the European Grand Prix at Valencia, what is Ferrari's focus: the reliability problems experienced in Budapest, or the qualifying problems experienced by Kimi Raikkonen in particular?

"I think both," said Domenicali. "Not only these two points but for sure reliability because we cannot accept to have these kind of problems, even if it was only 10 kilometers from the end. We cannot have this problem of reliability because we are paying too much of a price for it.

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