Kimi Raikkonen says lap times are of “little importance” to Ferrari after ending the final day of testing at Jerez fastest.
Raikkonen posted a 1:20.841 on a set of soft tyres to record the fastest lap of the week, ensuring Ferrari topped three of the four days of running at the Spanish circuit.
“Over the winter, we have made a good step forward and this car is definitely an improvement over the 2014 one,” he said. “It’s the whole package that has progressed, but there is still a lot of work to do.
“We are not comparing ourselves to the others, we just got on with our own job, without looking at what they were doing.
“Times are of relatively little importance; what matters is that we have put together a good number of laps without having any real problems.
“Today’s conditions were not that easy, with too strong a wind blowing on track, but then it’s the same for everyone.
“As I said, we now have a good basis from which to start the development work.”
Ferrari team principal Maurizio Arrivabene recognised the positive early signs from Jerez, but remains cautious over the true pace of the team’s rivals.
“If one makes a comparison to last year, these past few days of testing have produced encouraging signs,” he explained.
“The team has worked well, both at home and at the track and our drivers did a great job, providing the engineers with valuable feedback. But above all, I am pleased that the group has rediscovered its motivation and team spirit.
“In terms of performance, I don’t think our competitors – one in particular – have shown their true potential over these past days. I think we will only discover the truth about them and about ourselves at the last Barcelona test session.”
This article first appeared on Richland F1 – Image courtesy of Scuderia Ferrari
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