Kimi Raikkonen believes he and Ferrari extracted the maximum possible as he collected another podium finish at the Brazilian Grand Prix.
Raikkonen started fourth and lost ground to Red Bull’s Max Verstappen, though moved back into fourth when he cleared Ferrari team-mate Sebastian Vettel.
Raikkonen battled with Mercedes’ Valtteri Bottas but was unable to overhaul his compatriot and opted to extend his first stint, which dropped him back behind Vettel.
Ferrari implemented a switch to elevate Raikkonen ahead of Vettel and he eventually worked his way past Bottas to seal third place.
“It was a nice exciting race,” said Raikkonen. “We had good battles throughout and the car was working well during the whole race. The speed was there and we had no particular issues.
“The first set of tyres was very good at the start and I was really happy, but then I destroyed them a little bit trying to pass the Mercedes.
“Once we changed the tyres the car was absolutely fine; we kind of knew that once we pitted we could have gone past them.
“After that the behaviour of the car was still very good, but at that point we were a bit too late, as it had taken too long for us to get there.
“As for the strategy, we did what we thought was the best for us. We can always debate many things, but we made the best of it.
“Obviously it is not the greatest of results, but I don't think we could have got more; we did not make any mistakes and fought hard.”
Vettel classified sixth having struggled for pace, with Ferrari believing that he was compromised by a sensor issue.
The result cemented Ferrari’s status as runners-up in this year’s Constructors’ Championship.
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