• German Grand Prix

Lotus 'have to improve' - Raikkonen

Lotus has now moved ahead of McLaren in the constructors' championship © Sutton Images

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• Race:
• German Grand Prix

• Drivers:
• Kimi Räikkönen

• Teams:
• Lotus F1

Kimi Raikkonen says Lotus "have to improve on certain things" if it wants to win races this season, but is happy with the competitiveness of the team.

Lotus now sits in third place in the constructors' championship ahead of McLaren and has scored five podium finishes this season but is yet to win a race. Raikkonen said that there are areas the team needs to improve if it is to make that final step, but added that he was prepared for such issues when he returned to Formula One.

"We know that we have to improve on certain things," Raikkonen said. "Obviously we are not happy with how things have gone in all the weekends, but I have to say that I was expecting that - I didn't think that suddenly everything would be perfect when you come in. It's still quite early days in the season so we are still up there and we just have to get a bit more higher up and see what happens."

When asked if he shared the view that Red Bull and Ferrari were beginning to pull clear of the pack, Raikkonen disagreed, saying that Lotus would be able to match them for pace if it could get in clear air at the front.

"I got a pretty decent start in the last race but then I ran a little bit too fast in the left hander at turn four so I went over the kerb and I lost two places. So without that I'm sure we would have had the speed to fight at the front but we just ended up in the last two races losing out at the start for different reasons and it's not easy to get passed so if you put yourself in the wrong position you cannot use the speed."

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