Kimi Raikkonen has admitted that it is taking him “way too long” to get used to the 2017 Scuderia Ferrari.
In the meantime, team-mate Sebastian Vettel is obviously relishing in the car as he has claimed victory in two out of the three races so far this season whilst Raikkonen is yet to claim a podium finish.
The Finn suffered a similar start last year but showed prospect during the latter stages. However he has been out-paced and out-raced by Vettel in Australia, China and Bahrain.
And it was following the third round in Bahrain that he opened up about his disappointment in regards to his lack of pace.
“To be honest, it takes way too long,” Raikkonen said. “You know, we’re supposed to get it right straight away, and obviously we haven’t.
“A lot of reasons but it didn’t help last race [China], not driving the first day. At least when you’re going through some issues, you want to get track time.”
Raikkonen complained of understeer during the first couple of races, but by the sounds of it these issues were all but ironed out in Bahrain.
“I’m pretty happy with the car now,” he said. “I feel that we are doing the absolutely right things.
“And in the race [on Sunday] I felt the car was very good, but I made a mess in the first lap, putting ourselves in a difficult position.”
Despite the lacklustre results, Raikkonen insists that he has made progress but he will need to show it; Ferrari president Sergio Marchionne publicly questioned his ability in Shanghai, and the security of his seat has been in doubt before.
“It’s just the small things now, in the big picture we are pretty much where we want to be – it’s just that we need to fine-tune a few things,” he added.
“I don’t think it’s the big things but obviously it has cost us. [It’s] taking too long, but nobody to complain [to], it’s my job.
“Overall, yes, we are much happier with the things, but I cannot be very happy with the result even this weekend. It’s all big picture – when you look, it’s been disappointing.”