Kimi Raikkonen admits he was surprised with his competitive pace in FP2 ahead of the Japanese Grand Prix, as the Ferrari driver complained about understeer throughout the session.
Raikkonen was third fastest in the afternoon at Suzuka, finishing only three tenths adrift of Nico Rosberg after he had trailed the Mercedes driver by nearly 1.4s in FP1.
“The balance of the car was not exactly where I wanted it to be,” the 2007 world champion said. “The lap time was pretty OK but I was suffering a lot with understeer and fighting the car through the first part of the circuit. It does not feel nice.
“I was a bit surprised with the lap time. It got better in the end but it’s not where we want to be.”
Asked whether he thought Ferrari had the legs on Red Bull this weekend, Raikkonen, who also had a misfiring issue during FP2, added: “I don’t know. Like I said, the feeling was not very easy but the lap time was OK.
“If we can get a good feeling and the car working as we want, I think we can still improve a lot. We’ll see what happens.”
REPORT: Rosberg edges out Hamilton as Ferrari shows pace in FP2
FEATURE: Silbermann says... Snapchat and soap in Suzuka
Chris Medland's 2016 Japanese Grand Prix preview
Keep up to date with all the F1 news via Facebook and Twitter
Charles Leclerc hailed a smooth, trouble-free Friday for Ferrari at their home race at the…
McLaren drivers Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri both felt encouraged by their opening day of…
Lewis Hamilton and George Russell were looking very happy with how things had gone for…
Max Verstappen was clearly struggling for pace in Friday's two practice sessions at the Autodromo…
Ferrari driver Charles Leclerc continued to set the pace at Imola, completing a sweep of…
Full results from Free Practice 2 for the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix at Imola, round…