Raikkonen on Mercedes dominance: "They found something"

Departing Ferrari driver Kimi Raikkonen has admitted that the team's rivals Mercedes have "found something" in the past two races that has elevated them over Ferrari, as the German team have convincingly won in both Russia and Singapore.

Raikkonen, who will move on to Sauber next season, qualified in P4 and stayed there for pretty much the entire race. A pretty uneventful race for the Ice Man, who did try an overcut but to no avail, as it only left him further behind the rest of the pack.

“We went as fast as we could but they were faster,” Raikkonen told PlanetF1.

“We’re a bit behind in pure speed, but in the race the car feels okay.

"But we need to go a bit faster everywhere.

“Who knows what they [Mercedes] have done."

The win in Monza was not based on raw speed as Ferrari simply shot themselves in the foot that race despite having the faster car, but since then, Ferrari haven't gotten near the Silver Arrows in terms of pace. Back-to-back pole positions for the German team in Singapore and Sochi, but Raikkonen remains calm, as he always seems to be.

"Let’s see in the next race if it’s still the same or not.

“Hopefully it’s a slightly different story, more like it was a little while ago.

"I guess they found something.”

Typical dry, sober responses from Raikkonen, who has now dropped down to fourth place in the constructors' championship as he got leapfrogged by Mercedes' Valtteri Bottas.