Categories: F1 News, Reports and Race ResultsFerrari

Raikkonen eyes consistent victory challenges

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Kimi Raikkonen says his next target with Ferrari is to be consistently challenging for victories this season after his podium in Bahrain.

After a difficult 2014 season, Raikkonen has found the SF15-T much more to his liking this year and took his first podium since the 2013 Korean Grand Prix when he finished second last weekend. With Mercedes having had the measure of Ferrari over the last two races, Raikkonen says only a small improvement is needed to be challenging for wins at every grand prix this year.

"I’m very happy how the team is working and obviously after last year where we are now is a big step and everyone is working very well together," Raikkonen said. "The atmosphere is good now and we have a good direction to keep pushing.

"It seems to be working well and things are improving, so I’m sure as a team we’ll get there and to be able to be all the time fighting for wins, but it will take a little more time."

While Ferrari's power unit is notably better this year, Raikkonen says the team will need to make all-round improvements to the car to match Mercedes.

"Obviously on some circuits we can get closer, some not, but I think obviously the first step is to improve our package, that will happen in the future and hopefully get closer. One step is to qualify more higher up, make better starts and go from there.

"I think we just have to keep working and improving the whole package and how we do things. I’m sure we will get there and we can fight for wins every weekend after that."

Click here for a look at the brake-by-wire system which caused Mercedes problems in Bahrain

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Andrew Lewin

Andrew first became a fan of Formula 1 during the time when Michael Schumacher and Damon Hill were stepping into the limelight after the era of Alain Prost, Nigel Mansell and Aryton Senna. He's been addicted ever since, and has been writing about the sport now for nearly a quarter of a century for a number of online news sites. He's also written professionally about GP2 (now Formula 2), GP3, IndyCar, World Rally Championship, MotoGP and NASCAR. In his other professional life, Andrew is a freelance writer, social media consultant, web developer/programmer, and digital specialist in the fields of accessibility, usability, IA, online communities and public sector procurement. He worked for many years in magazine production at Bauer Media, and for over a decade he was part of the digital media team at the UK government's communications department. Born and raised in Essex, Andrew currently lives and works in south-west London.