Raikkonen dismisses critics of 2017 performance

Kimi Raikkonen, Ferrari, United States Grand Prix

Kimi Raikkonen has said he doesn't care what people think about the way he had been driving this season.

"My driving has not been too bad in my view," Raikkonen said ahead of the United States Grand Prix in Austin, Texas.

"What other people think, I don't care," he insisted. "I know what I can do. Some days are easier than others for many reasons.

Raikkonen has already been signed up to stay at Ferrari for another season in 2018. That's despite lagging far behind his team mate Sebastian Vettel in the points.

Currently Vettel has 247 points in the drivers championship, compared with Raikkonen's 148 points. While Vettel has four wins this season, Raikkonen's best finishes were second place in Monaco and Hungary.

"If you look purely at the points, I'm far from where I want to be," he admitted. "But that's a combination of many things.

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"It's been a far from ideal year but that's how it goes," he added. "We try to finish it well and then turn the page, start from zero and go from there."

Raikkonen did concede that there was always room for improvement, and that this year was no different.

"As a team, we always want to improve and that's every day," he agreed. "It doesn't matter which team you go to - there isn't a single team that isn't interested in improving things.

"Even if you win and get a one-two, there are always things you can improve," he said. "It's a never-ending story, especially in this sport, but in many sports.

"We try to do our best all the time," he added.

Raikkonen certainly seems happy at Ferrari and fully supported at Maranello.

"When it comes down to the team and the people I work most closely with, I'm very happy," he said.

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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.