Kimi Raikkonen is confident he still has the speed to cut it at the sharp end of the F1 field, despite rumours circling about his potential replacement by fellow Finn Valtteri Bottas at Ferrari next year.
The 2007 world champion has experienced a mixed first half of the season and trails team-mate Sebastian Vettel by 59 points in the standings.
While Raikkonen displayed strong race pace on several occasions, including during a great drive to second in Bahrain, he has been generally more prone to mistakes than the German, especially in qualifying.
“Everyone has their own view, but I wouldn’t be here if I didn’t think I had the speed,” said Raikkonen. “I don’t see the point to be racing if I wouldn’t believe that I have. We have demonstrated that many times, but, when you look at the points, the results don’t always show that.
“I have an idea where I want to be and where we want to be as a team, but we have the speed, we just keep having issues, mistakes and some other things, and it seems to change our direction over the weekend completely.
“We haven’t recovered from those so easily, but we have to get rid of those and I think we have all the tools to get the good results.”
Raikkonen’s Ferrari contract runs until the end of the current campaign, with an option for Maranello to extend it for 2016. While the Finn is keen to prolong his spell in Italy, team principal Maurizio Arrivabene has repeatedly stressed that the 35-year-old's future depends on his performances.
“I have made it very clear to the team what I want to happen and it’s to be here next year,” insists Raikkonen. “But unfortunately I don’t know anything more than you guys.
“I don’t read a lot of stuff, but obviously I can see a lot of stuff being written, but whatever comes doesn’t really matter for me.
“I’m pretty sure I will be one of the first to know rather than reading in the newspaper when something comes up.”
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