2007 World Champion Kimi Raikkonen had a very solid weekend in Mexico as he scored a second P8 finish of the 2021 season. 

After making Q2, he benefitted from grid penalties to start in 10th. He survived the first-lap chaos to stay in that position. 

On the restart, he quickly dispatched Russell and overcut Antonio Giovinazzi to collect four valuable points for his team. It also meant he moved ahead of Nicholas Latifi in the Drivers’ Championship. 

''Yeah.... but not a lot happened honestly,'' said Raikkonen when asked if his race was fun. 

''In the first few corners of course here [it’s exciting] but after that it was important to get in front of the Williams in the first laps and then just looking after the tyres and brakes a little bit. 

''[I had] very similar speed with Sebastian [Vettel] but from behind we didn’t have many worries and just making sure the second set will go to the end.'' 

Alfa Romeo now sit twelve points adrift of Williams with four races + a sprint event to go. Raikkonen believes the team will be happy with the points bagged. 

''I’m sure they are happy, he said''. 

''For myself, [it] makes no difference.''

Xevi Pujolar spoke about Raikkonen’s race, saying it was important to extend the first stint before pitting. The Finn managed to build enough of a gap over Ricciardo and Bottas to rejoin ahead of them.  

''With Kimi, we were managing the gap with Vettel and Alonso. There was no incentive to come in too early,'' he said. 

''Once we got the right window, we went [for the stop] with Kimi. For sure we wanted to get close to Vettel and challenge him... but it was not possible. 

''But P8, we close the gap to Williams and now we’re going to Brazil. I think we’ll like track and we’ll try [to catch Williams].''