(Scuderia Ferrari SpA via Twitter)
Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen is hopeful that 'one day we will get it right' after once again struggling in qualifying. The Finn will start this afternoon's United States Grand Prix at the Circuit of the Americas in eighth place on the grid following McLaren Mercedes Jenson Button's grid penalty saw the Finn promoted from ninth place.
Raikkonen who was two tenths of a second behind Ferrari team mate Fernando Alonso in qualifying is confident that he and the team will get the car to his liking which will allow him to unlock his true potential and speed from the car.
It had been reported earlier this week that Raikkonen would have a new chassis for this weekend's race to help improve his on track performances but this is not the case.
Despite the Finn's struggles this season he has seen a gradual improvement in the car and stated:
'The car doesn't feel too bad actually, but it's just pushing on a fast lap when the front starts sliding, It's a big problem for me at least and you cannot drive as you want and it's just pushing and sliding, you are fighting with it every corner. But I don't know how to fix it.'
Raikkonen's performance in qualifying wasn't too bad as he managed to out-qualify the Mercedes powered Sahara Force India duo of Sergio Perez and Nico Hulkenberg and is currently in 12th place in the championship equal on points with Perez while he is just two points behind McLaren's Kevin Magnussen who he will line-up alongside on the grid in Austin.
Meanwhile Raikkonen's team mate Fernando Alonso has confirmed that the Italian team briefly considered starting the Spaniard from the pit-lane at the Circuit of the Americas just like reigning world champion Sebastian Vettel, Alonso is running low on power unit mileage and confirmed that earlier this week the team did discuss running with a sixth power unit and starting the United States Grand Prix from the pit-lane.
The team decided against this however and Alonso will start the race from sixth place on the grid and is hopeful that he won't have to take a penalty in Brazil or the season finale in Abu Dhabi as that race is worth double points which could prove to be extremely important for the Italian team in their fight with Williams Martini Racing to finish in third place in the Constructors championship.
Ferrari are currently 28 points behind the Grove based outfit and have the McLaren Mercedes team catching them as the Woking based outfit are just 45 points behind the Maranello based outfit.
© Ben Johnston 2014
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