Kimi Raikkonen insists he still has the speed to compete at the front of the grid after a tricky first half of the campaign.
Raikkonen has amassed 116 points after 11 rounds, 86 points less than team-mate and championship leader Sebastian Vettel and has even slipped behind Daniel Ricciardo to fifth in the Drivers’ standings despite Red Bull’s struggles.
The Finn is yet to record a victory but has shone on occasion, most notably in qualifying for the Monaco Grand Prix when he led a Ferrari 1-2, and believes misfortune has disguised his true pace and that better results will come when everything falls into place.
“Personally, I’m not happy with the results,” the 2007 world champion told Autosport. “I want to win races, I want to be up there all the time and that hasn’t been the case this year too often.
“I know when things are correct, and there are quite a few things that happened and you pay the price for it.
“Driving-wise, I have the speed, so I’m not worried about that. It’s about putting things in the correct places.”
President Sergio Marchionne had been critical of the 37-year-old earlier in the year but after the recent 1-2 in Hungary, the Scuderia now look set to hand Raikkonen a further one year deal with him reaffirming his desire to compete at the sharp end.
“My only aim is to do well, that’s the only reason I’m here, not anything else,” he said. “It’s not because I want to be just part of it – that’s the complete other end of the story.
“It’s not always fun when it’s not going well, but that’s how it is.
“It depends on many things. Speed-wise, we have it, but it’s not enough if you have the speed if the rest doesn’t go as you had hoped.”