Kimi Raikkonen has admitted that it was Sebastian Vettel who "got all the luck" at the Australian Grand Prix after the four-time champion won the opening round of the 2018 season.
Raikkonen qualified in second place and challenged Lewis Hamilton for the lead on the opening lap of the race before settling into second position, pitting on lap 18 onto the soft compound tyre in order to try and perform the undercut on Hamilton.
The undercut failed, however, and Raikkonen settled into third with Vettel now out in front although he had not yet pitted.
The deployment of a Virtual Saftey Car for Romain Grosjean played to Vettel's advantage and the driver pitted, emerging in the lead which pushed Raikkonen down to third.
Coming under immense pressure from a hard-charging Daniel Ricciardo in the closing stages of the race, Raikkonen held on to take third place and complete a double podium finish for Ferrari.
"Well I think it was ok, obviously not… we didn’t have the most lap but what can you do? I mean luckily it was Seb who got the luck and it was our team at least so… I think I had a decent speed all day long and just difficult to pass," said Raikkonen post-race.
"I got a good second corner and then just tried to follow and see if we can do something in the pit stop and then the safety car was pure luck but yeah, we held onto third place, cut some pressure in the end but Red Bull with a little bit more fresh tyres but yeah, I’ll take it, third place, I think I’ve been happy with the car and it’s nice to go onto the next race.”
Through the efforts of Vettel and Raikkonen, Ferrari lead the Constructors' Championship with 40 points, 18 points ahead of Mercedes who currently lie in second.
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