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F1 US GP: Raikkonen unconcerned by Ferrari struggles

Kimi Raikkonen has conceded it wasn't a straightforward Friday free practice for Ferrari at the Circuit of the Americas but is confident the Italian squad will be fully prepared to challenge Mercedes and Red Bull in the United States Grand Prix.

The Finnish driver appeared to tumble down the timesheet in FP2 after making a mistake on his fastest lap when he ran wide at the penultimate turn to eventually finish the session 10th with a best lap of 1m 38.865s - almost 0.7s off team-mate Sebastian Vettel and 1.5s behind pace-setter Nico Rosberg.

Despite admitting he hadn't found a smooth set-up with his Ferrari, and complaining of 'no front end at all' towards the end of FP2 over the team radio, Raikkonen remains calm his team can recover overnight to be competitive against its front-running rivals.

"I think I was also struggling in the morning but in the afternoon I didn't look so good because I went off on the new tyres," Raikkonen said. "But I wouldn't say that there was an awful lot different from this morning. It was a tricky Friday again to find any good balance.

"Not really anything specific, just trying to make sense out of it and get it exactly where we want. It is not major issue but it one of those Fridays that doesn't go smooth.

"Firstly we have to sort out the car for tomorrow and I think Mercedes looks to be strong as does Red Bull but I don't think it is too bad. If we get the set-up where we should be we should be pretty good." 

Zdroj: crash.net