Ferrari has potential to win last four races, says Raikkonen

Ferrari’s championship hopes have all but vanished in the last three races, with the team now trailing Mercedes by 145 points while Sebastian Vettel is 59 behind Lewis Hamilton with 100 remaining. 

Vettel and Raikkonen were wiped out on the first lap in Singapore, while in Malaysia Vettel suffered an engine failure in Malaysia that prevented him from doing a timed lap and Raikkonen suffered a similar issue that stopped him from starting the race.  

Then in Japan, Vettel started second but retired early on with a spark plug failure, as Hamilton won, while Raikkonen recovered from 10th on the grid - having taken a five-place grid penalty because of damage caused in his FP3 crash - to take fifth.

When asked which of the final four races - United States, Mexico, Brazil and Abu Dhabi - offered Ferrari the best chance of victory, Raikkonen said: “Any of them, as long as we do everything as well as possible. 

It hasn’t been the greatest races lately but I think we have the speed when they put things in the right place.

Kimi Raikkonen

“It’s a bit unknown, the tracks are different from each other. So we go every weekend, start from zero and do the best that we can and avoid the issues and mistakes.”

Ferrari had a car capable of taking a one-two in Singapore and arguably Malaysia, while in Japan, it should have pushed Mercedes hard.

But the engine problems, driver error and misfortune has contributed to Ferrari scoring just 22 points in those three races compared to 105 for Mercedes. 

“I don’t know what is going to happen - nobody knows,” said Raikkonen regarding Ferrari’s chances in the constructors’ championship.

“But I know we are going to push until the last lap in the last race and see where we end up. 

“It hasn’t been the greatest races lately but I think we have the speed when they put things in the right place - that is at least something positive.”