Kimi Raikkonen believes he made a step forward in understanding the F14-T in Malaysia after he looked competitive throughout practice, but an early collision with Kevin Magnussen hid his pace.
The Finn reckons Bahrain will provide a true indication of the progress he’s made and he fully expects a better result.
“In Malaysia, you couldn’t see it because of what happened on the first lap, but I felt I made a step forward in terms of understanding the tools I have to work with,” he said.
“So I think we can be better prepared this weekend. That should give us faster lap times and better positions.”
Bahrain is amongst one of the most power heavy circuits and is therefore one of the most fuel hungry, but Raikkonen isn’t expecting it to be too much of an issue.
“Obviously, every circuit can be different in terms of its effect on fuel use and tyres: looking at Bahrain, fuel saving will play a more important role than in the last two races, but it might not turn out to be too bad, as it was less of an issue than we had expected in Melbourne,” he added.
“Also on the tyre front, I think Sakhir could be a bit easier to deal with than Sepang and also if we can get the car perfectly right, it will make life much easier.”
