Kimi Raikkonen (Photo : Getty Images)
Kimi Raikkonen lamented that Ferrari could have done "much more" to avoid his disappointing fifth place finish at the Chinese Grand Prix on Sunday.
The 37-year-old Raikkonen asked that he was given an early pit stop to change tires, but it didn't happen until the 39th lap. He added that his front tires "went away" just after two laps.
Raikkonen said that he rather had the pit stop earlier than later "to get out of the traffic" in front of him.
He added that while he eventually caught up with the Red Bull team in the end, it was pretty late and that the race was then pretty much over.
Raikkonen finished over 40 seconds behind teammate and second placer Sebastian Vettel.
The Finnish driver, who is known for making rants over the team radio, said that he would want to look why it took a while for his team to make a pit stop. He is also confident that he will make a better finish in the Bahrain Grand Prix next week.
In Shanghai, Hamilton coasted to a win--his fifth title in Shanghai. He led from beginning to end and finished the race in 1 hour, 37 minutes, 36.158 seconds. His performance placed him at level with Vettel atop the driver's standings with 43 points.
Vettel, who finished 6.2 seconds behind Hamilton, won at the Formula One season-opener in the Australian GP.
Hamilton, a two-time world champion, noted that he is racing against a four-time Formula One World Champion in Vettel, who won the championship in 2010, 2011, 2012 and 2013 while driving for the Red Bull Racing team.
The Brit described Vettel as phenomenally quick and "at his best." He added that Vettel's Ferrari team is "at their best in years."
Red Bull's Max Verstappen finished third by rallying from the 16th position on the starting grid.
Ricciardo finished fourth, followed by Ferrari's Raikkonen and Mercedes' Valtteri Bottas in sixth.
