Raikkonen: No issues with Ferrari strategy

Kimi Raikkonen has no complaints with Ferrari's strategy in China despite being used as a mobile bollard to help Sebastian Vettel.

With Mercedes undercutting Vettel to put Valtteri Bottas in the lead, Ferrari left Raikkonen out for a long first stint in the hope that he would hold up his compatriot.

That, though, didn't go according to plan as Raikkonen's tyres were shot by the time Bottas caught, and easily overtook, him.

Raikkonen fell to sixth after his pit stop but recovered to third due to problems for other drivers including Vettel, who was hit by Verstappen.

"Obviously I want to get the best result, that’s all I’m interested in, and after the race it’s always easy to say we should have done this or that," Raikkonen said. 

"Even when you win races you still have things you can do better, it’s the never ending story in Formula 1, it’s what’s interesting. My only interest, as I said before, is to get the best possible result.

"During the race they [Ferrari] have all the data and make the decisions accordingly. Obviously we were not in the best position after the pit stops but the end result was okay. Third was fine but of course I want better results."

The Finn went onto explain that Ferrari's strategy depends on qualifying order with the driver who is ahead given the best chance.

"It depends where we qualify and who’s ahead and who’s behind. It’s very clear, straightforward and simple. As long as I remember it’s been that way in any team I’ve been.

"Unfortunately a lot of people try to make it very complicated and make stories out of not such big things. As a team we always try to get the best results.

"Obviously after the race it’s always easy to say we should have done this or that. Unfortunately we don’t have the tools to start by the end of the race and then go back to the middle of the race and change things."