Alfa Romeo's Kimi Raikkonen says he was left 'hoping for more' performance during the Mexico Grand Prix as he lacked overall speed before retiring late on.
Raikkonen was forced to pull out of the race due to overheating issues on his C38, after getting caught up in a first-lap tangle between two cars, which caused floor damage to the Alfa Romeo.
Whilst he continued to race on, Raikkonen felt the car lacked speed and was unable to keep up with his rivals as the tyres began to degrade, leaving the 2007 World Champion disappointed.
"I was in those two corners and got squeezed between two cars," said Raikkonen.
"We were told everything was fine, but there some floor damage looking afterwards. Then the temperatures went high and obviously we don't know why but we had to stop otherwise we'd damage the car.
"So we need to find that out, yeah I'm sure we were hoping to have a bit more speed.
"At some points, we had a bit on new tyres, but then suddenly people in front stopped and went faster and we couldn't answer that at all, so we had some damage which might explain something, but I was a bit more hopeful.
When asked by Motorsport Week if the issues were as a result of any new development parts on the C38, the Finn added. "No, I don't think so, the numbers say they're not.
"At the last race I tried the whole package and it was a much better end result, so, honestly, it's not a disaster with pure balance but just grip. Grip-wise when the tyres are new it's kind of okay, but as the newness of the tyres goes it just starts sliding."
Raikkonen has not scored any points since August's Hungarian Grand Prix and Alfa Romeo currently lies in eighth place in the Constructors' standings, just seven points ahead of Haas F1.
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