Raikkonen: ‘I have been struggling all day’

Kimi Raikkonen says he has been “struggling all day” after the Ferrari driver ended both Friday free practice sessions in P4 at Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya.

This placed the Finn behind the two Mercedes of Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg, as well as team-mate Sebastian Vettel. Although Raikkonen was only 26 thousands adrift of the German’s fastest time in FP1, the gap grew to over half a second in the afternoon.

But the 2007 world champion could not pinpoint any specific reason why he failed to match Vettel’s pace.

“It was quite a strange day,” said Raikkonen. “The position and laptimes were not too bad, but I was not completely happy with the handling of the car.

“I don’t know if it was caused by the wind or by the conditions of the track, but I have been struggling all day.”

Like almost every other team, Ferrari has brought a raft of evolutions to its SF15-T in Barcelona, as the Maranello-based squad looks to cut the gap to championship leaders Mercedes.

While he was unable to take full advantage of the new developments, Raikkonen believes these did not hamper his progress on track.

“We did not see anything bad with the upgrades we brought here. It’s just the feeling that it’s not completely right, as if the car was sliding. I feel there’s a lot to improve and to gain, in the evening we’ll look more into details and see what we can do for the rest of the weekend.”

Raikkonen is a two-time Spanish Grand Prix victor, having won here in 2005 with McLaren and in 2008 during his first spell at Ferrari.

Click here for Friday's gallery from the Spanish Grand Prix

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