Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen says he was surprised to be so close to Mercedes during qualifying in Suzuka, after finishing just three-tenths down on pole sitter Nico Rosberg.
Although the Finn admitted third on the grid isn't the result Ferrari are aiming for, it was encouraging progress considering where they were in Malaysia a week ago, when he was almost eight-tenths down on Lewis Hamilton.
"I'm positively surprised with how well the car has been behaving and how quick it has been," he said on Saturday.
"Third is not exactly what we're looking for but we were pretty close. It was not too bad."
Raikkonen has complained of understeer all weekend, and even believes it may have cost him more time during qualifying, but admitted overall his lap was a good one.
"Even in qualifying, it was slowing us down a little bit in the first sector but it got better in the end, we were a bit faster.
"It's very small details that have to come together and we put it more or less together," he added.
"The car has been behaving quite good and we try to do at least the same if not better tomorrow."
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