SUZUKA, Japan -- Kimi Raikkonen says Ferrari can unlock a lot more pace at the Japanese Grand Prix this weekend if it can find a way to eliminate the understeer he was experiencing in Suzuka's first sector.
Raikkonen finished third in FP2 -- 0.3s off the two Mercedes -- but complained about understeer over team radio. However, Raikkonen is confident there is a lot more to come if the team can solve his balance issues overnight.
"The feeling is far from where we want it to be. It got a bit better in the end but the feeling is far from where we want it to be," he said. "It got a bit better in the end, but I just feel like I'm fighting with the car all the time in the first sector.
"But when we get the feeling and the car working how we want, we will find a lot of lap time. Obviously it wasn't a disaster, but still it's not where it should be.
Asked if Ferrari will be able to fight Red Bull this weekend, Raikkonen said: "I don't know, today the feeling was not very easy but the lap time was OK. It improved in the end and if we get the right feeling and the car working as we want it can still improve a lot."