Kimi Raikkonen says Ferrari is closer to Mercedes on outright pace than people think, even despite Sebastian Vettel winning in Malaysia.
Vettel’s win at Sepang was a surprising one but has been largely attributed to the hot conditions seen on race day. With much cooler temperatures forecast in China, Mercedes says it expects to be quickest once again but Raikkonen believes people have been too quick to dismiss how competitive Ferrari can be in all conditions based on the opening race of the season.
“I said after Australia that if we had been behind them in the race then I don’t think they would pull away, at least not as far as people think,” Raikkonen said. “All the circuits are slightly different, all the conditions are different and one car works a bit better in one place than the other.
“Maybe we are not exactly where we want to be right now but if we compare with where we were last year I’m sure we would be very happy with where we are, at least right now, when we finished the season. There is still a lot of work to do to be absolutely happy with all the things but that’s why we are here.
“I think as long as we keep working in the same way we’ve been doing so far we’ll get there. It’s a new circuit this year and we’ll see how it goes but I don’t expect that suddenly things change. I think Mercedes can be very fast in qualifying and then in race pace conditions Mercedes has been a bit closer.”
Click here for Chris Medland's Chinese Grand Prix preview.
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