• Japanese Grand Prix - FP2

Raikkonen encouraged by qualifying pace

Kimi Raikkonen only completed 17 laps in FP2 due to a spin © Associated Press

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Kimi Raikkonen believes Lotus will be more competitive in qualifying for the Japanese Grand Prix than at recent races.

Although Romain Grosjean qualified third in both Singapore and Korea, Raikkonen hasn't qualified higher than eighth place in any of the last four races. Having set the fourth fastest time of FP2, Raikkonen said he felt Lotus was more quicker over one lap than it has been since the summer break.

"It's been better or more to my liking here at least today than it has been in the last few races, especially on one lap so that's a good thing," Raikkonen said. "But obviously tomorrow is a new day and it might be a completely different story so we have to wait and see, but it's not too bad."

Asked about his spin which curtailed his Friday running early, Raikkonen said it wouldn't have an impact on his race preparations.

"I just spun! It happens sometimes. It was quite windy today so that didn't help and it's been a bit tricky at that part all day. I just pushed a bit too much and just spun, but there's no damage or anything. It's just that we didn't get to do as many laps as we maybe wanted but it's not a big deal.

"We didn't really do the long runs but I don't think it's going to change an awful lot. Obviously we try to get the car as good as we can anyhow for one lap and when we get there we run it like it is for the race anyhow. So I don't see that it should change anything. I think if we get the car running well tomorrow we should be OK."

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