Formula One news: Ferrari driver Kimi Raikkonen looking to improve after disappointing start to season

The first three races of the 2017 Formula One season have already come to an end with Lewis Hamilton and Sebastian Vettel the clear front runners for the world championship at the moment. While it came as no surprise to see Hamilton at the top, Ferrari have certainly done a lot of work on their new SF70H car but the effects have only been felt by only one of their drivers.

Vettel is clearly using the new Ferrari car to the best of its abilities with the German winning two of the three races in the 2017 Formula One season but his teammate, Kimi Raikkonen, has not been able get on terms with his new car till now.

Also read: Lewis Hamilton expects title fight with Sebastian Vettel to go down to the last race

The Ice Man has not managed a podium finish this season with his best performance being a fourth place finish in Australia and Bahrain so far. The Finnish driver needs to improve his performances in the coming races to keep his own future at Ferrari safe and to keep Ferrari in the hunt for the constructors' championship.

Raikkonen struggled with understeer in the Australian and Chinese Grand Prix but said that the problems were less in the Bahrain Grand Prix. Despite that, he admitted in an interview that the fact that he took so long to get used to the new Ferrari SF70H was not right but stated a few reasons why that happened.

"I'm pretty happy with the car now. I feel that we are doing the absolutely right things. And in the race I felt the car was very good, but I made a mess in the first lap, putting ourselves in a difficult position," Autosport quoted Raikkonen as saying.

"To be honest, it takes way too long. We're supposed to get it right straight away, and obviously we haven't. A lot of reasons but it didn't help in the last race in China, not driving the first day because practice was abandoned. When you're going through some issues, you want to get track time."

If Raikkonen can't deliver at the standards the Ferrari bosses want him to, this could most likely be his last season with the Italian outfit. The Ice Man did win his only world championship during his first stint with Ferrari back in 2007 but has to improve after Ferrari President Sergio Marchionne publically questioned his performances.

However, Raikkonen will have a chance to prove his doubters wrong in the upcoming Russian Grand Prix and he said he was happier with the way things are now.

"It's just the small things now, in the big picture we are pretty much where we want to be - it's just that we need to fine-tune a few things. I don't think it's the big things but obviously it has cost us. It's taking too long, but nobody to complain to, it's my job," Raikkonen said.

"Overall, yes, we are much happier with the things, but I cannot be very happy with the result. It's all big picture - when you look, it's been disappointing."