Kimi Raikkonen believes Ferrari getting stronger as F1 2014 goes on

The 2007 F1 world champion finished fourth at Spa on Sunday, beating his team-mate Fernando Alonso for the first time since returning to Ferrari.

Raikkonen lost out on a podium finish to the Williams of fellow Finn Valtteri Bottas late on, while Alonso's race was compromised by a battery issue.

Ferrari expected to struggle at Spa given the power deficit of its engine to the Mercedes runners, and Raikkonen reckons the Scuderia's performance in Belgium suggests it is gradually getting to grips with the F14 T - though he warned it still has serious work to do to catch Mercedes.

"Little by little we're getting stronger, on every side," Raikkonen said. "It's not just the engine and the electronics.

"For sure we don't have the downforce that some of the other teams have. It's the package.

"We're not bad in any of the areas, but we're not good either. We're missing everywhere: the car itself, aerodynamic grip, mechanical grip, and the power as well.

"Some circuits are better for us than others, [but] we keep working and improving things little by little."

Alonso suggested Ferrari had been stronger than expected in Belgium, after declaring ahead of the race that the Scuderia would be in for two tough races at Spa and Monza, where engine power is particularly important.

"We thought we would be quite far away from Williams, and we were more competitive than we thought," said Alonso.

"In my specific case, power was the biggest concern. All weekend we had a little deficit with the power unit.

"This little extra power we could have had for overtaking was missing in the race, but it could not have changed the race like day and night."