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Kimi Raikkonen admits that he doesn't know if any of his engine parts can be salvaged after a power unit problem in the second free practice session. The Finn's day ended early when a puff of smoke shot out from the rear of his car, and he was told by his race engineer to switch off.
After turning the car off, Raikkonen managed to get it back to the pitlane through momentum, and the Scuderia mechanics got to work on the stricken Ferrari immediately. With drivers limited to three engines a year before being handed penalties, Raikkonen doesn't know if any of his power unit can be used again.
"We had some issues and I was told by the team to stop the car. We still don’t know what happened, but we’ll figure it out. In the evening we’ll have some work to do; we’ll go through everything and understand.
"Tomorrow morning we might get a better idea and know where everybody is. I’m sure it is going to be close. I didn’t feel anything [prior to the blow-out]. I don’t know [if any of the engine is salvageable].”
Conditions were very difficult for the drivers over the course of both Friday practice sessions. Gusts of wind caught many drivers out on their fast laps, with some ending their days in the gravel. Raikkonen described it as a "messy" session.
"Today the session was a bit messy,” Raikkonen said. “But overall I think it was not too bad. The wind made it a bit tricky, but we know that, at this time of year, it can be like that. The tarmac was the same as we had in testing, but obviously the weather conditions are different.
"We all know this track very well but every time we come here it’s like starting from zero. We tried different things and learned from them and it was pretty ok most of the times. Maybe it was not the most straightforward Friday, but I think that more or less we know what we should do."
Grand Prix of Belgium
G. Zhou
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calle.itw
Posts: 8,527
So already we are beginning to see how the 3 unit rule is a mistake. The fact that some might already need to begin svaing on components and consider penalties isnt really a good thing for F1, methinks.