Ferrari president Sergio Marchionne has suggested the bosses of his Formula One team sit down with Kimi Raikkonen to discuss his form after a disappointing Chinese Grand Prix.
After finishing a distant fourth in Australia, Raikkonen struggled in China and crossed the line fifth despite Ferrari's car being a match for Mercedes on pure pace. Teammate Sebastian Vettel finished second and may have challenged for the win were it not for a strategy gamble early in the race which was undone by a poorly-timed Safety Car as the track dried out.
Raikkonen -- who was unhappy with how his own strategy played out later in the race -- also spent much of the first stint holding Vettel up while the pair were bottled up behind the Red Bulls, all while eventual race winner Lewis Hamilton built a lead out in front. When Vettel finally got past Raikkonen he made the move on Red Bull's Daniel Ricciardo that the Finn had been unable to do while showing the car's pace was clearly a match for the world champions.
Speaking after the race about Raikkonen's form, Marchionne told reporters: "I talked about this with [team boss] Maurizio [Arrivabene]. Maybe they should sit around a table and he should talk to him. Today he seemed to be busy with other stuff. Vettel was more aggressive."
Marchionne then said the 2017 F1 car was "absolutely" not built to favour Vettel's driving style. Raikkonen, who rejoined Ferrari in 2014, signed a one-year contract extension last year. The Finn's 2007 world championship victory is the last by a Ferrari driver.
Ferrari seems to have a great chance at ending that drought in 2017 and Marchionne thinks the Shanghai race gave plenty of reasons to be optimistic about the remainder of the season.
"We are fighting with Mercedes. Without the Safety Car the story of the race should be different. I can confirm that our choice to change the tyres of Vettel was correct. It was a nice race, we arrived second, we are second in the constructors' championship by one point and Seb has the same points as Hamilton. That's not bad after two races."