Penalty adds to Raikkonen’s qualifying woes
Three-place grid penalty for Kimi Raikkonen
Lotus star Kimi Raikkonen will be forced to work hard if he is a chance of maintaining his Melbourne form in Malaysia.
Stewards have handed the former World Champion a three-place grid penalty after blocking Mercedes driver Nico Rosberg in qualifying.
Rosberg had qualified sixth, one place in front of Raikkonen who will now slip back to the fifth row of the grid.
It compounds a difficult day for Lotus who had experienced hydraulic problems on Raikkonen’s Renault-powered machine.
The alleged incident occurred at turn 14 at the 5.5km Sepang circuit.
Lotus also saw Romain Grosjean miss out on the final part of qualifying after rain disrupted their strategy leaving him stranded in 11th.