Kimi Raikkonen admits not winning yet is disappointing

The Lotus driver admitted, however, that if he had been told ahead of the start of the year that he would have finished on the podium by now, he and the team would have been pleased.

"Of course when you get the good results and you get close then you get disappointed that you don't win," Raikkonen told reporters in Valencia on Thursday.

"But then if you had asked before the season if they had been happy with these results they would definitely have been.

"They probably wouldn't expect that they are so high up. But then when you are up there and you don't win then of course it is disappointing. But if you give yourself sometimes a chance to win then of course you are expecting more."

Raikkonen has finished on the podium twice this season and was in a close fight for victory in Bahrain.

In the last two races, however, the Finn has finished eighth and sixth.

The former world champion reckons his form is being hurt by low starting positions.

"In the race we have been quite strong," said Raikkonen. "Sometimes there are small things we haven't done exactly right, but it is always easy to say that."

Raikkonen was again cautious about his prospects for this weekend's European Grand Prix, where he will be hoping to be in the battle to be the eighth winner this year.

"We always try to win, but it's not easy. We don't know how well we are going to do. We will see tomorrow and bit and then Saturday. Hopefully we can be up there on Sunday."