Raikkonen makes set-up breakthrough after difficult F1 season

The 2007 world champion has generally struggled for single-lap speed relative to team-mate Fernando Alonso during the 2014 F1 season, but in Singapore he went quickest in Q1 and was on the same tenth as Alonso in Q2 before a software problem spoiled his second Q3 run and restricted him to seventh on the Marina Bay grid.

Raikkonen then became bottled up behind the Williams cars of Felipe Massa and Valtteri Bottas in the race, trailing home eighth after wrecking his rear tyres in the wake of the FW36s.

Nevertheless, Raikkonen feels Ferrari has finally given him the front-end feeling from the F14 T that he craves in order to be fast.

"There are things we can improve as a package, but I have a feeling I can drive it as I want and it felt kind of easy compared to what I have had all year," Raikkonen said.

"Every corner was a guessing game before, but now I can trust what will happen and I can drive my own way.

"When you get things like that it makes things a lot easier and you're on a laptime straight away.

"At places like this [Marina Bay], if you struggle with the front end you can easily be half a second slower.

"It's a nice feeling and it would've been nice to have finished qualifying.

"Hopefully we'll sort out the issues and go in that direction and ensure that every time I am in the car I get a good feeling and can be towards the front."