09/04/2015
NEWS STORY
Kimi Raikkonen feels the Ferrari SF15-T can be strong on most circuits in all conditions.
Whilst some feel that Sebastian Vettel's win in Malaysia was a combination of various factors, and that Ferrari is not yet in a position to mount a serious threat to Mercedes, Kimi Raikkonen isn't so sure.
Although side-lined by poor pit work in Australia and hampered by poor qualifying strategy and an early clash with Marcus Ericsson in Malaysia, the Finn fought back to take a fine fourth place, leaving many wondering whether, under different circumstances, it might have been a 1-2 for the Scuderia.
Though this weekend will be much cooler than Sepang, Raikkonen is convinced the Ferrari will be competitive.
"This is a different track but so far the car has been working well in all kind of conditions in every place and so I don't see reasons why it should be different here," he told reporters at the Shanghai International Circuit. "Here it can be a little bit different because it's cold and the track is challenging, but of course if you have a good car it helps. Tomorrow we'll go out and see but I don't expect big surprises.
"All tracks are different and every condition too, and one car can behave better in one place that in another one," he continued. "Maybe we are not where we would like to be, but compared to last year things have changed a lot even if we still have a lot to do. Obviously we have to put in a clean weekend with no issues, then I' m sure we could be pretty happy with the result.
"We knew from testing we have a good package but the two first races for me have been pretty difficult," he admitted, "although I could take some good points in Malaysia. We'll keep pushing as hard as we can trying to do things right knowing that every race can be different, but generally I think we can be quite strong everywhere.
"In general we know we have the speed but we have to get rid of all the issues even if they are not our fault like the puncture."
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