Kimi Raikkonen expected Mercedes to be "even stronger"

The Ferrari of Kimi Raikkonen crossed the line in the Italian Grand Prix in fourth position on Sunday claiming twelve points in the drivers standings. 

Ferrari knew that they could not win the race on outright pace and therefore switched to a two-stop strategy rather than a one-stop strategy like the Mercedes. Although Raikkonen admits it wasn't the quickest way around the circuit, he feels it was the right thing to do.

"No, I think it [running supersoft-supersoft-soft] was the fastest way from start-to-finish for us, but unfortunately it wasn't enough for better results today,” Raikkonen explained. “But at least we kind of gave them [Mercedes] something to think about. Personally, I expected them to be even stronger in the race."

“So, I think in a way it was okay. Obviously third and fourth is not what we are looking for, but that is what we got. We did our maximum.” 

When asked about his battle with team-mate Sebastian Vettel, he said: “With Sebastian we were more or less driving behind each other and when you race against your teammate there's not much that you can do, we both know what the other guy is going to do,” he added. 

“After the start it was a bit tricky and I got close after the first pit stop, but then he was able to pull away.” 

Raikkonen was also quizzed about the upcoming Singapore Grand Prix where last year a Ferrari won as Mercedes mysteriously struggled.

"Obviously the last few weekends it looks like we have been going in the right direction again. We have to keep that up and keep doing our maximum and then see what it brings."

"The last couple of weekends have been a completely different story between the teams and also speed-wise, so who knows what comes next,” he concluded.