Kimi Raikkonen says Ferrari did not have the pace to challenge Mercedes at the Russian Grand Prix after the 2007 world champion finished a distant third in Sochi.

The Finn crossed the line nearly 32s adrift of race winner Nico Rosberg, and was only able to close the gap to second-placed Lewis Hamilton after the Briton had to nurse a water leak on his W07.

Having struggled with the set-up of his SF16-H all weekend in Russia, Raikkonen admits he could not take the fight to the two-time Constructors’ champions.

“It’s not exactly what we want,” the 36-year-old said of his podium finish. “We want to win races and put the two cars as far up as we can. We tried to today. I had a pretty OK start, managed to get Valtteri [Bottas] on the first lap but again after the restart, same as last year here, we just did not have the speed.

“He managed to get me and then when I tried to get past him obviously Lewis [Hamilton] got past me, but we just had to try to run a bit longer and pass them and we managed to leapfrog the Williams but we were not fast enough for Mercedes.

“Then we had good speed but with the fuel saving we had to take some measures, so obviously you cannot push as fast as the car can go.”

Raikkonen’s 82nd career podium was also Ferrari’s 700th top-three finish in Formula One. The Finn moves up to third in the 2016 Drivers’ standings, though he already trails championship leader Rosberg by 55 points.

REPORT: Rosberg eases to win after Kvyat takes out Vettel

AS IT HAPPENED: 2016 Russian Grand Prix

Breakfast with ... Martin Brundle

Keep up to date with all the F1 news via Facebook and Twitter

Julien Billiotte

Recent Posts

Sao Paulo GP: Saturday's action in pictures

Saturday's proceedings were cut short due to a heavy rain storm rolling into Sao Paulo…

59 mins ago

Sao Paulo GP qualifying postponed after repeated delays

The FIA has postponed Saturday’s Sao Paulo Grand Prix qualifying session due to adverse weather…

1 hour ago

McLaren: Team orders always ‘make life difficult for ourselves’

McLaren's successful 1-2 finish in the Brazilian Sprint race came with a dose of complexity,…

4 hours ago

Verstappen demoted to P4 following VSC infringement in Sprint

Max Verstappen has been demoted from third to fourth in the final standings of Saturday’s…

5 hours ago

Norris thanks Piastri for handing Sprint win, but not ‘proud’

Lando Norris secured victory in Saturday's Sprint event in Sao Paulo thanks to a McLaren…

6 hours ago

São Paulo GP: Norris handed sprint win by Piastri

McLaren clinched a valuable 1-2 sweep of the São Paulo sprint race, with polesitter Oscar…

7 hours ago