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Kimi Raikkonen says that he is disappointed to finish the Australian Grand Prix in fourth position. Raikkonen failed to make the podium while he watched his teammate Sebastian Vettel take his 43rd career victory and Ferrari's first since 2015.
The Iceman feels his race was compromised by the tyres he started the race on as they were the ones he used in Q2, and felt a lot better after pitting for the soft compound.
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"Obviously for the team, it was a great start winning the race," he told Sky Sports F1. "From my side a bit not ideal. But it's a good foundation and we have a strong package.
"Obviously especially here it's all about qualifying and the start and it's hard to overtake on this circuit," he pointed out. "I suffered a bit with the same tyres than in qualifying with the ultra softs. When I moved to the soft tyres I was good."
Raikkonen spent much of the race being followed by Max Verstappen but didn't feel at all under pressure: "I wasn't too worried about him because it's hard to get past on the average speed they wanted to use," he said. "We had to do quite a bit of fuel saving. I guess all the guys have to. Then I pushed in the end a bit. No complaints on that point."
"Disappointing, but I'm happy we understood a lot of things so we can get it back to where it should be in the next race," he said. "I'm happy we know what to do. It's not an ideal start but at least I got points and fourth place is far from a disaster.
"Comparing to past years I think we have a very strong foundation to build on," he added. "We just need to put things 100 per cent in the right place and go from there. It's going to be a long year and a lot can happen."
Fergal Walsh
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