Kimi Raikkonen says the result of qualifying for the United States Grand Prix was “far from ideal” after securing fifth on the grid at the Circuit of the Americas.
The Finnish driver’s best lap in Q3 was over one second slower than pole-sitter Lewis Hamilton’s benchmark.
Raikkonen moved ahead of his team-mate Sebastian Vettel with his final run. The Ferrari duo will line up fifth and sixth.
“Obviously we cannot be pleased with where we finished today, looking at the time difference to the front,” he admitted.
“We did what we could, but our position on the grid is far from ideal. This is the reality today and now we have to be stronger in the race.
“Yesterday we struggled a bit to find the right set up: we changed small things here and there and today the handling of the car was pretty good.
“We lack speed in the lap and to go faster we need more overall grip. Tomorrow is going to be a long race, the long run was not too bad, so I expect the car we had today to be better tomorrow.
“For sure we are going to do our best and hopefully we are going to have a strong race.”
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