Kimi Raikkonen may not be the Ferrari Formula 💫1 driver who had the most to lose - or indeed, lost - at the start of the Mexican Grand Prix, but called his geta♛way a "disaster" before fighting back to third place on Sunday.

Raikkonen's teammate,🌃 Sebastian Vettel, saw his title hopes all but end when he collided with Mercedes rival Le🐻wis Hamilton at Turn 1, leaving both cars with damage.

Amidst the carnage, Raikkonen strug🎶gled to make up ground, falling from P5 on the grid to seventh as Esteban Ocon, Nico Hulkenberg and Sergio Perez all got past.

"The initial🐼 start wasn't too bad. I got alongsid🌞e Bottas, I think, but then everyone behind me had a good tow and came past me," Raikkonen explained.

"It was a disa🥂ster but we had some patience and enough speed to improve. Once those in front of me stopped for tyres I could push, so we recovered well." 

Raikkonen made use of the Virtual Safety Car to leapfrog Ocon into third ♍place, and ended the race with a 20-second gap to Vettel behind him and an equal gap to Bottas ahead, running in a lonely order.

Asked what more he could have done, Raikkonen said: "I don’t know really, I don’t know what to say because I s꧑pent most of the race on my own. In the beginning I was stuck behind the Force India and I couldn’t get past.&nﷺbsp;

"Once he stopped I had dece⛎nt speed, but I was far behind the others and it wasn’t the nicest feeling. I don’t know, I was 🐽on my own, and at that point there was nothing to do,  the guys in front of me were so far and behind there was nobody. 

"I have to say it was not too bad. But I kind of expected to be this way ♚after yesterday; I think the biggest issue was the first lap."

Asked what he thought of Lewis Hamilton's fourth world championship w🅷in, Raikkonen said: "It’s great for Lewis, it’s a lot of wins, a lot of championships.

"What can I say? We🧸 can be happy for him, but inside… I don’t know…"