Portuguese Grand Prix

Watch Raikkonen’s crazy first lap in Portugal as he makes up TEN places

Nicolas Quarles van Ufford Sunday 25 October 2020 19:00 Updated: 19:13

Watch Raikkonen’s crazy first lap in Portugal as he makes up TEN places

When you think of lap one heroics, Ayrton Senna at Donington Park in 1993 or Fernando Alonso in Hungary 2006 spring to mind.

But this start from Kimi Raikkonen's Portuguese Grand Prix has to be right up there.

Starting 16th, the Finn briefly dropped to 17th, only for him to then slalom his way up the field like his rivals were standing still, and in an Alfa Romeo considered to be one of the slowest cars on the grid.

In the slightly damp conditions at Portimão that made the recently laid track even more greasy than had been the case over the rest of the weekend, by the end of lap one Raikkonen had climbed all the way to sixth, and was even sizing up Red Bull's Max Verstappen going into turn one on lap two.

Watch the Ice Man's rocket lap below. Where does this rank on the best opening laps in F1 history?

From P16 to P6 😎

An amazing start for Kimi Raikkonen at Portimao 🚀#PortugueseGP 🇵🇹 #F1 pic.twitter.com/cRneQ4dw2O
— Formula 1 (@F1) October 25, 2020

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Watch Raikkonen’s crazy first lap in Portugal as he makes up TEN places

Watch Raikkonen’s crazy first lap in Portugal as he makes up TEN places