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2017 start 'much smoother' than last year – Raikkonen

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Formula One

Kimi Raikkonen says Ferrari 'cannot complain' about their start to the 2017 season, and feels the team is in better shape than at the same point last year.

Formula One

We've learned lessons from the past years and the team has done a good job - but will it be enough?

Kimi Raikkonen

The Scuderia topped three of the first four days of testing in 2016, only for victory to then elude them over the 21-race season – but Raikkonen feels there is a more assured basis for the team to build upon this year with the SF70H.

"If we compare with how it went a year ago it's been much smoother going, so it's a good start," Raikkonen told reporters in Barcelona.

"We've been doing our own stuff and I'm happy with how things are running. The car has a good feeling, everything has been reasonable, we haven't had any issues – we cannot complain too much.

"Are we going to be fast enough? We don't know that yet; how it turns out at the end of the year is hard to say. We've learned lessons from the past years and the team has done a good job, but will it be enough? We will see - but the first feelings are good, and that's the main thing."

Asked what he made of the programmes from rivals Mercedes and Red Bull, Raikkonen added: "I don't see Red Bull or Mercedes – I see their lap times like all of you guys, but who knows what everybody is doing.

"We know what we are doing, and we are reasonably happy with how things are running. Some years it runs smoothly, some years not – and this year has been good so far.

"But obviously there is a lot of work still to do. We have another week before the first race, so we'll try to do another good week next week and see."

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