Kimi Raikkonen heads to the Japanese Grand Prix in a buoyant mood after revealing that he is now much more comfortable in his Ferrari F14 T.
The Finnish driver has struggled with finding the right set-up, but secured his best qualifying position in eight races in Singapore and hailed the race a breakthrough in his understanding of the car.
“In Singapore, we finally had the speed to put together a quick single flying lap in qualifying, as the car behaved the way I’d been hoping for,” explained Raikkonen.
“It was just a shame we could not maximise the performance of the car because of a minor issue before the last flying lap. It meant we could not do much in the race, as I was stuck in traffic and couldn’t exploit my pace.
“But for me, the positive thing that weekend was I finally had a good feeling from the car, something I had been waiting for a long time this year.”
Raikkonen is therefore looking forward to a promising Japanese GP this weekend.
“It’s a high power circuit, but also technically very challenging,” he noted. “So we are looking forward to see how our car goes there compared to the front running teams.
“I like Suzuka a lot. It’s an old-school type of racing circuit, the sort that always gives me the best feeling. I’d have to say my favourite is Spa-Francorchamps, but Suzuka comes very near in my ranking.”
