The Finn struggled with the handling of the new F14 T, especially under braking and corner entry. His problems were further exacerbated in the race by front tyre graining, which led to a number of lock-ups.

“We know more or less what we want to do, but some things are not happening overnight,” said Raikkonen. “It takes time to produce certain parts, or to have a certain way of putting the things on. We also cannot promise that it is going to fix the issues once we get something that we want.”

He then continu: “I have been in these situations before and sometimes it takes a while. Unfortunately it is not the easiest position right now, but looking at how difficult everything was, we got everything out of it. It is not what we want to achieve but it could have been even worse. I am sure we can only get better from there.”

Stefano Domenicalli agrees and said: “We need to help Kimi try to find the right balance in the car. He deserves that.  There was an improvement [this weekend], but we are still not where we want to be. As a team we have to make sure that everything will be done to help his driving style and I am sure for Malaysia it will be much better.”