Kimi Räikkönen took fifth while Romain Grosjean finished seventh in a fast-paced and intense Korean Grand Prix today. Kimi maintains third position in the Drivers’ Championship on 167 points; 42 from Fernando Alonso ahead and with an increased 14 point buffer to Lewis Hamilton behind. The team remains fourth in the Constructors’ Championship on 255 points; 29 behind McLaren and 119 in front of Mercedes.

- Both drivers started on Pirelli’s super soft compound tyres.
- Kimi pitted for his first set of soft rubber on lap 14, his second on lap 35.

Kimi Räikkönen, P5, E20-05
"I think this was about where we should have been today. The yellow flags at the start didn’t help when we were fighting with Felipe [Massa] but even so we didn’t quite have the speed to match the Red Bulls and Ferraris. We also lost quite a bit of time behind Lewis [Hamilton] – mainly because the new exhaust system means you lose a little bit of power so it was hard to get past – but with a few more practice sessions I’m sure we’ll learn a lot more to be able to improve it. I was pretty much on my own at the end but we had to keep pushing to maintain position and it wasn’t so easy. The gap to Sebastian [Vettel] in the Championship is quite big now so it will be very difficult to catch him, but we’ll keep pushing all the way.”

Eric Boullier, Team Principal
"We knew we would not be fighting for the win here, and fifth for Kimi was the maximum we could have achieved today. We scored a good tally of points in the Constructors’ Championship and although third position is slowly edging away from us with just four races left now we’re not ready to give up. It was good to see Romain drive very sensibly despite all the pressure that is on his shoulders; I think he is learning from this experience and it will only make him a stronger driver. Kimi’s racecraft was impressive as usual; his battle with Lewis [Hamilton] showed real class and he was maybe unlucky not to have been closer to the leading pack after being held up for so long. We will have the Coandă exhausts on both cars in India which should help us in our fight.”


source