MONTREAL, Canada -- Kimi Raikkonen says he "paid the price" for failing to find a good rhythm in qualifying as he settled for fourth on the grid for the Canadian Grand Prix.
Raikkonen ended a nine-year pole drought in Monaco last time out but failed to replicate those heroics in Montreal, finishing nearly 0.9s off Lewis Hamilton's eventual benchmark. That tally was also 0.6s off Ferrari teammate Sebastian Vettel.
"I think there was a lot of speed," Raikkonen explained after Q3. "On the last lap I made a mistake in corner two and improved a little bit but just couldn't make the laps very good and paid the price for it. It was a little bit more tricky today than yesterday just to get the good feeling with the tires but that's how it goes."
When asked if he was surprised by his gap to Hamilton and Vettel, he replied: "No. I mean you get it right or wrong and in places like this if you get one corner wrong and then with the long straight you're going to lose massive lap time so not a big surprise."
Given the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve's tendency to produce dramatic races, Raikkonen is not too pessimistic about his race prospects for Sunday.
"Often it's quite a hectic race here, a lot of things happen. You never know here, it's one of those places where things change quite quickly. Let's see how it is tomorrow, we try to make the best choices that we can. I think we should have good speed, so let's see."