Raikkonen: ninth the best we could do

Kimi Raikkonen said he wasn't worried by a disappointing race day for Lotus in Monaco having insisted afterwards that ninth place was 'the best we could hope for today'. The Finn had gone into the weekend on the back of podium finishes in both Bahrain and Spain but struggled for pace on race day and could only pick up two points from the weekend. The former champion insisted that he wasn't overly concerned given the unique nature of the Monaco circuit and was confident that Lotus will return to form in Canada next time out. “Ninth was the best we could do today,” he said. “I didn't start in a great position and I had some difficulties during the race so it's not been the easiest weekend, but at least we got a couple of points. It's better than nothing but not exactly what we wanted. One race doesn't change the fact that we have been pretty strong everywhere – even here at the beginning of the weekend. “This circuit is completely different from any other and I don't think we should worry too much about the fact that it wasn't our best weekend. It is what it is – sometimes it doesn't go the way you expected and now we should look to Canada for a better result.” Eric Boullier said team performance had been key to Lotus' struggles on race day, with the only positive being that the Enstone-based team hadn't lost too much ground in the title race. “With Kimi, we knew that fighting for a podium was going to be more than difficult,” he said. “It then became obvious that we were struggling with our tyres when the temperature fell. The grip was just not there and we could only defend our position. In the end, the two points we've scored today are disappointing but because the field is so tight we have not lost too much ground on our opponents. “We have the same number of points as Ferrari in the constructors' championship, while Kimi is 25 points away from Fernando Alonso who's leading the drivers' classification. Anything can still happen and the championship is wide open.”