- Abu Dhabi GP - Race
Raikkonen: Ferrari knew race would be tough
Kimi Raikkonen says the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix was as difficult as he expected it would be after struggling home in tenth.
Team-mate Fernando Alonso finished one position ahead and Raikkonen thinks Ferrari's speed deficiency was laid bare at Yas Marina, which has two sweeping back straights.
"It was OK," Raikkonen said of his race. "The start was OK and I gained some places in the first corner but I lost some before the first pit stop; it's difficult because we just didn't have the speed. The car was behaving not badly but just lacked overall lap time and we got done on the straight line a few times and couldn't attack anybody, so were falling backwards. We were expecting a difficult race and that's what it turned out to be."
Raikkonen's finish made 2014 the worst season of his career as he finished 12th in the drivers' championship, much worse than most expected from his return to Ferrari. From the pre-season tests it was clear Ferrari did not have a title winning car and Raikkonen does not think it matters where you finish in that situation.
"I've had difficult seasons before so it doesn't matter. It is what it is and now it's finished. Hopefully next year we are much better and I really believe we can turn things round and get back to where we were before. It's just one season and unfortunately it was not very good and that's how it goes.
"I don't really count the seasons, when you're not fighting for championships whether you are fifth or 15th it makes no difference. Overall it was difficult all the time but we improved and will learn from this kind of thing. Obviously it's not nice but it's part of the game and we can blame ourselves and do things differently and better overall."
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