Alfa Romeo “had even better speed than” McLaren

Raikkonen had an excellent weekend finishing inside the top ten during each practice session and qualifying tenth on the grid.
 
The Finn managed to move up to seventh within five laps and maintained that position for the rest of the race, unable to overtake Pierre Gasly’s Red Bull due to the difficult nature of the track.
 
But Raikkonen believes his pace was better than Gasly’s and the McLaren of Carlos Sainz who was ahead in fifth.
 
Raikkonen said on the Formula 1 website: “The car behaved great, I did a good job in the first lap and stayed out of trouble and then we had even better speed than the McLaren, but it was impossible to overtake.

“After the pit stop we knew that it was impossible to overtake and I had to save the tyres for the end, and we lost a position in the pit stop then gained one [due to Nico Hulkenberg’s Renault being stuck in safe mode], maybe the only thing we could’ve done better is stop a lap earlier, but that’s how it goes.”

Alfa are currently seventh in the constructors championship while McLaren have cemented themselves as the fourth best team.

Team principal Frederic Vasseur praised Raikkonen for holding off Valtteri Bottas in the closing stages but that seventh was the best the team could do.

He said: “Seventh was all we could hope for today so we can be satisfied with these points.

"As for Antonio, starting in P17 meant he was always going to struggle on this track, and an issue with his first set of tyres meant he didn’t get the chance to make any progress in the race.”