No regrets for Raikkonen

Kimi Raikkonen is adamant he made the right decision in returning to Ferrari despite experiencing a tortuous season to date.

Raikkonen has scored just 47 points from the 16 grands prix ahead of this weekend’s race in the United States, compared to team-mate Fernando Alonso’s total of 141.

Raikkonen has previously made clear F1’s switch to the 1.6-litre V6 era, leading to a re-design of the car, has not worked in his favour.

The 2007 world champion has qualified no higher than fifth, with his best race finish that of fourth in Belgium in August.

It is understandably not the scenario Raikkonen would have envisaged when he opted to quit Lotus last season and rejoin Ferrari, the team he served between 2007 and 2009.

In his absence, however, Lotus have gone backwards, leaving the 35-year-old Finn to appreciate his circumstances, even if they may not be to his liking.

“For sure I made the 100 percent right decision (to join Ferrari),” said Raikkonen.

“Obviously the results haven’t been what I wanted, or what the team wants, but that’s how it goes.

“We have improved from where we started the season and there have been some better moments.

“But it’s not been easy to fix some issues and get things exactly as you want.

“You end up having a small issue here, a small issue there and the end result is you pay a big price for it. But I’m happy to be here.

“Finishing anything after first place I’d rather be in a Ferrari than for any other team, so for sure I made the right decision.”

Raikkonen finished Friday’s practice session at the Circuit of the Americas sixth quickest, nearly 1.5 seconds behind Lewis Hamilton in his Mercedes, and just 0.350secs adrift of Alonso.