Categories: F1 News, Reports and Race ResultsFerrari

Raikkonen expects more from Ferrari updates

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Kimi Raikkonen expects Ferrari to be able to get more out of its updates at the Monaco Grand Prix after struggling in Spain.

With a major upgrade package brought to Barcelona, Raikkonen opted to run the old specification of car in the Spanish Grand Prix as Ferrari struggled to get the most out of the new parts. With the team able to learn more about the update at the in-season test in Barcelona, Raikkonen believes his decision to "sacrifice" some race pace will allow the team to make quicker progress with the update.

"Obviously we think that they are good parts; otherwise they would not be on the car at all," Raikkonen said. "No, there were certain things we wanted to learn and I was prepared to take the chance and work for the long future for all of us. I think we learned things and I’m sure that we will get them working 100 per cent in the future.

"Maybe here I think they should be fine. You know, every circuit, every condition is different. It was a bit of a tricky weekend for us but I’m sure we’ll be better here and in upcoming races. Like I said, it wasn’t ideal for us but the aim is to improve. We have come still a long way from last year and we want to improve and improve and we have to keep working."

With the softest two compounds being supplied by Pirelli in Monaco, Raikkonen was predictably coy on whether it would play in to Ferrari's hands.

"It’s hard to say, obviously. We have go into the weekend and see how it goes tomorrow and go from there. But I expect us to be as good as we’ve been this year at least and then obviously whatever happens over the weekends we will see. But I think it’s a pretty normal race weekend for us, even though it’s always a special place."

Click here for a look at the technical updates brought by all the teams at the start of the European season

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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.