'Raikkonen still one of the best', says Vettel

Sebastian Vettel still holds team mate Kimi Raikkonen in high regard, believing the Finn deserves to achieve better results this year.

Raikkonen has come under scrutiny from Ferrari's top brass following his clear under-performance compared with Vettel.

While the German has triumphed twice since the season kicked off in Melbourne, the 2007 world champion lingers at a fair distance from his team mate in the points standings and has yet to even score a podium finish.

"I think he probably didn't have the races he deserved," Vettel said yesterday in Sochi.

"At the last race obviously the start and the first lap cost him a lot, otherwise I'm sure he would've been on the podium."

Vettel is certainly in a good position to judge the performance of the man sitting on the other side of the Scuderia's garage.

"In contrast to outsiders, I see exactly what happens - that things didn’t go in his direction so far - but I don’t think that there is any doubt in the paddock that he is one of the most talented drivers that F1 has."

• Raikkonen: 'Everything is fine' with Ferrari president Marchionne

Vettel contends that a driver's performance often follows cycles, and pointed to his own period of depressed results.

"If you look back last year, I had some races where things didn't come way -- it's up and down but usually throughout the season it sort of equals out."

The German also insists that despite his current lead there is no hierarchy at Ferrari among its drivers, but the situation is clear.

"I think the way we've raced in the last two and a half years, everything is straightforward.

"Sometimes it was close, sometimes it was too close as well -- I remember China last year from my side, that was never ideal -- but you try to fight your teammate as well as all the others.

"But more than anything I think we know and we understand that we're racing for Ferrari."

GALLERY: All the pictures from Thursday in Sochi

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