Kimi Räikkönen says he's sure he has "100 per cent the same chance" as team-mate Sebastian Vettel to win the Formula 1 title this season, amid claims that Ferrari clearly favour the German.
Räikkönen was the quicker driver in Australia and outqualified Vettel, but lost out on the victory when a Safety Car forced Ferrari to switch its strategy, with Vettel eventually taking victory. In the following two races, although Vettel has qualified ahead, the pair have been split by just a tenth.
In China, Ferrari appeared to compromise the Finn's race in order to back up Vettel's rivals, however it came to nothing after the German was involved in a collision with Max Verstappen, dropping him to eighth as Räikkönen finished third.
Räikkönen though says he wouldn't be racing if he thought he was being disadvantaged by his Ferrari team.
"It’s one of those things – it’s always easy after the race to say what we should have done [on strategy]," he said in Baku as quoted by the official Formula 1 website. "Once you know the final result it’s easy to say this and that, but no one knows it during the races.
"As far as know I have 100 per cent the same chances as everybody else, we try to make the best out of it.
"I’m here to do my best and I want to fight as hard as I can. I wouldn’t be here if I wouldn’t feel that’s possible."
Räikkönen believes the fact the top three teams are so close means victory is a matter of perfecting the race weekend as even a small error can throw away a good result on such a competitive grid.
"If you go with the statistics, yes [Ferrari have the fastest car at the moment], but I think it’s very close. I think it depends on a lot of things – conditions, tyres, track.
"So I think the honest answer is we have three cars that are a match, and whoever does the best job bringing all these little things and details together is up front."
