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Raikkonen says car just not quick enough

Kimi Raikkonen said Ferrari simply lacked the pace to match McLaren's Lewis Hamilton in today's Chinese Grand Prix

Hamilton dominated the race from start to finish, with Raikkonen unable to follow him after the Briton made a very good start.

The Ferrari driver finished in third place after letting teammate Felipe Massa pass him.

"We know what we want as a team and that is what we did. It is normal in this situation," said Raikkonen of letting Massa through.

"Today I had a very good car all the time, no major issues. The car was handling quite nicely but unfortunately it was not fast enough.

"At the start Lewis pulled away a bit. I started to do the same laptimes and every time I was faster it was too late. In the second stop I was catching a bit, then got traffic and cost me a lot of time.

"Unfortunately we were second and third today but hopefully in the next race we can challenge them a bit more. It was not easy and we gave our best but it did not work out this time."

Raikkonen downplayed the significance of giving up second place for Massa, who will take a seven-point deficit to the final race of the season in Brazil.

"Like I said, I know what the team expects and what we want, it is racing, I have nothing to lose or win - I am driving for the team," said the world champion.

"It is a normal situation and I was pretty happy with how things went in the race apart from that we could not challenge McLaren today.

"The car was not too bad but we just didn't have the speed."

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