After missing out on a second pole position of 2017, Kimi Raikkonen says he was disappointed with his qualifying result in relation to his strong showing of performance this weekend.
Raikkonen topped final practice before qualifying, however, in the all important session failed to carry his momentum, being pipped to pole position by Lewis Hamilton by a narrow 0.045 second gap.
"It’s okay but obviously when you get that close it’s disappointing, but I thought I made the most out of it," said the Finn.
"There’s always places to improve, never going to get 100% perfect anyway, you always find some things to improve. The car has been behaving nicely all weekend, a pleasure so far.
Despite starting from second, winning the Malaysian Grand Prix is still an option for Raikkonen, providing that he manages to make it to the first corner.
"We try to get further than 100 metres tomorrow, and we’ll see what we can do," said Raikkonen. "It’s a long way [to turn 1], so if you make a good start you will benefit quite a bit from it," adding that he will take the race as it comes after the first three corners.
As Sebastian Vettel failed to complete a lap in qualifying which leaves him starting at the back of the grid, it is imperative for Raikkonen to challenge Hamilton in Sunday's race if Ferrari is to close in on Mercedes in the Constructors' Championship and so Vettel's hope of a fifth Drivers' Championship tite remains alive.
