Kimi Raikkonen admits he "had a pretty hard time" in 2014 and has thanked Ferrari for backing him as he has started the new season in strong form.
Raikkonen returned to Ferrari from Lotus at the start of last year but was comprehensively beaten by team-mate Fernando Alonso as he failed to even finish on the podium. With the team much more competitive this year, Raikkonen has found the SF15-T much more to his liking and finished second in Bahrain, 3.3s behind race-winner Lewis Hamilton.
While the Finn says he is never happy unless he is winning races, he admits he is in a much better place personally this season than last.
"Obviously it's much nicer than being out of [the podium] but, you know, you come second and obviously we got quite close to the Mercedes but it’s a bit disappointing after that ... but I’d rather take this one than something else," Raikkonen said. "You cannot feel happy. We are happy to be second but it’s still disappointing; it’s not what we want to do.
"Big thanks to the team, I had a pretty hard time last year. This year in the beginning, just some bad luck in the races but, you know, the team has done a great job over the winter and everybody is pushing together, in the same direction and I’m sure we are only going to get stronger and better as a team and improve the car. So, it’s a great place to be."
Click here for a more light-hearted look at the Bahrain Grand Prix weekend
Keep up to date with all the F1 news via Facebook and Twitter
