Categories: F1 News, Reports and Race ResultsFerrari

Ferrari has improved everywhere - Raikkonen

Kimi Raikkonen says Ferrari has improved considerably in all areas rather than just with its power unit this season.

Niki Lauda said ahead of the Brazilian Grand Prix that Ferrari had caught up with Mercedes in terms of its power unit but was still lagging behind aerodynamically. While Sebastian Vettel refuted Lauda's claim, Raikkonen says there have been clear improvements in a number of areas which will need to continue in to next season.

"I think we improved in all the areas, not just in power," Raikkonen said. "Since the end of last year we improved a lot but we still have a long way to go to be exactly where we want to be. Mercedes is ahead of us, but I don’t think there’s one area where we have been improving more than in others.

"I think it’s the whole package that has improved, but there’s work to be done in all areas before we can be happy. The rules are the rules and I’m sure we can make another step for next year. If it will be enough I don’t know, we’ll see next year."

And Raikkonen is not overly concerned with his own championship position this year having closed to within a point of Valtteri Bottas by finishing fourth in Brazil.

"It’s better than 5^th, but does it really mater? I mean, people don’t really remember if you finish fourth or fifth in the end. We’ll try to do the maximum result and see where we end up. It’s not going to change our world if we finish wherever we’re going to finish. Obviously we hope for a good weekend there, enjoy it and try to have a strong race."

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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.