Despite setting the fastest time of the whole test on the final day at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya on Friday, Kimi Raikkonen was in his usual reflective mood, feeling that it is too early to say where Scuderia Ferrari are compared to their rivals.
The Finn set a best time of 1:18.634 on the final morning in Spain to lead the way, but did not have a completely clean day as he was brought to a halt by an electrical fault towards the end of a race simulation in the afternoon.
Raikkonen admits to having a good feeling with the SF70H during testing, and he is now focused on the first race of the season in Australia in two weeks time, although he feels even then it will not be clear just which team has an advantage in 2017.
“There’s a good feeling with this car and that’s the most important thing,” said Raikkonen. “We have been reliable for almost all of these days of testing and that is another good sign of the great work the team has done over the winter.
“We are starting from a stronger base than last year: but it’s really too early to say how fast the car is compared to the others. Perhaps even Melbourne won’t give a 100 per cent precise picture of the situation, because the first race is always a bit unusual. We might have to wait until China.
“Either way I’d like to thank everyone in the team, because they have always managed to step in and sort out all the small problems that testing is supposed to resolve.”
