Ferrari closer to Mercedes than P3 suggests - Raikkonen

Kimi Raikkonen says he could have been closer to the Mercedes drivers than the final gap in the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix suggests.

Nico Rosberg beat team-mate Lewis Hamilton by 8.2seconds, with Raikkonen nearly 20s behind in third place. However, with a slow second pit stop due to a stuck front right tyre, Raikkonen says his chance to put pressure on the two Mercedes drivers had disappeared so he backed off in the closing laps.

“I think the whole year as a team has been quite good compared to last year, not even to mention for myself,” Raikkonen said. “The speed has been there, just haven’t been able to produce the results due to some issues and mistakes. This weekend has been pretty OK, the car has been handling well.

“I think in the race we could have been quite a bit closer but in the end the pit stop saw some issues and we lost some time. In the end I slowed down a bit but I think we had reasonable speed, they didn't really pull away. At certain points I think we were catching them and then they were pulling out but not an awful lot in it. It’s never nice to finish third but I’ll take it after previous races. It always could be a better finish but I think it’s almost what we expected today.”

Asked on the podium why it took so long for Raikkonen to be able to pull out such a strong weekend as he did in Abu Dhabi, the Finn says a lack of smooth weekends was to blame.

“Well I think we started the season better but it has obviously not been ideal throughout the year but that’s how it goes sometimes. The speed has been there but mistakes and problems and stuff like that have meant the result has not been great many times. But this weekend was a bit better, everything was working well, things were running smoothly. I think it was good but obviously not enough to beat this two but we did our best.”

REPORT: Rosberg takes third win in a row to end season

AS IT HAPPENED: Abu Dhabi Grand Prix