Kimi Raikkonen says that Alfa Romeo is making progress in the right direction - even though it's been a tough few weeks for him personally.
The Finn hasn't finished in the points since the summer break. He was well down the order in Spa and Monza, and retired from last week's Grand Prix in Singapore after heavy contact with Daniil Kvyat.
"Singapore was another weekend where we showed some promise but things didn’t go our way in the race, so it was obviously a disappointment," he acknowledged this week.
And now the team has learned that its appeal over the penalties it received in the German Grand Prix related to clutch settings has also been dismissed, meaning Alfa have lost the points they thought they had won in Hockenheim.
As a result, Alfa Romeo now find themselves in eighth place in the constructors championship. Raikkonen himself is only 13th in the drivers standings.
Despite the setbacks, team boss Frédéric Vasseur was still looking on the positive side.
"We have scored points in the last few races, often in difficult circumstances, and this is a positive," he said. "But we could have and should have scored more
"Our car is improving and we have shown we can fight at the front of the midfield and our aim is to continue to do so at every round this season."
Raikkonen himself is convinced that the team is set for better things ahead.
"We've had meetings about next year and I think there are good things coming," he said this week. "I'm confident that we'll keep improving. We have a great group of people and we're working well together.
"Where that will put you on the grid, who knows?" he added, admitting that winter and pre-season testing was rarely reliable in predicting what lay ahead.
"At winter testing, people aren't looking at the lap times, so it gives you zero [knowledge]," he shrugged. People never seem to learn, it doesn't matter how fast you are in winter testing or how slow.
"The first race will tell the truth in the end," he added.
Raikkonen admitted that Alfa Romeo needed improvement "everywhere" if it was to deliver on its potential next season.
"That's the same for everybody," he pointed out. "It's a difficult job, so we'll see what we can do."
In the meantime there are still six races to be contested in the 2019 season, beginning with this weekend's Russian Grand Prix.
"The plan for Sochi is not different from what we aimed for so far," said Raikkonen. "We need a clean weekend where we can show how good our car is and keep out of trouble.
"I haven’t been very lucky in Russia in previous years but hopefully we can turn the record around this time.”
Vasseur was also hoping for a positive outing this weekend.
"Sochi gives us an occasion to bring back two cars in the points and continue our chase in the championship," he said. "But we will need a good weekend in which every team member delivers.
"I am confident we can be competitive, and I am looking forward to the weekend."
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