He is now fifth in the latest World Drivers’ Championship standings, only one point behind fellow compatriot Valterri Bottas while Vettel is third with 266 points.
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The Anglo-Dutch oil major said in a statement at the season-ending Abu Dhabi Grand Prix that the performance gain from fuel equated to nearly half a second per lap, or an average of 30 seconds over a race distance.
His extension initially led to an improvement in results but Raikkonen has struggled in recent races and has had to play second fiddle to team-mate Sebastian Vettel. “We are still away from what these guys [Mercedes] can do, but we did our best”.
At that stage, Ferrari considered dropping him for 2016 before finally deciding to re-sign him for one more year.
While Yas Marina Circuit is historically not an easy track for overtaking, Vettel has experience navigating the grid from the back having started from the pit lane in 2012 only to go on and finish third. “So we misjudged the situation, a small mistake with big effect, but the race is tomorrow and lots can happen”.
Ferrari team principal Maurizio Arrivabene said the team had no concerns about Mercedes’ actions or potential outcomes.
“We have sought advice from the FIA for a while now, like many other teams and their responses were equally vague because I think it is a hard topic and because the answer is not very simple. But there’s life and next year we’ll try again”, Raikkonen said of the season. On both sides, we are still a bit down.
“It is good that Kimi is in the front, we have a quick auto and it is possible to overtake here, even if only tomorrow we’ll be able to tell how much it is”. I’m sure we’re going to have a strong package – but is it strong enough?
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“Obviously I don’t know what is happening behind other people’s doors, but what is happening in Maranello I know about and it looks very promising, it looks good”.
