Raikkonen: I might as well finish last if I'm 11th like in F1 US GP

The 2007 world champion has not finished in the top 10 since the Hungarian GP before the summer break and, although he ran in the points in the opening part of the Austin race, he again came away without scoring.

When asked if Alfa's struggles with tyres in the US event were masked in qualifying then exaggerated in the race, Raikkonen said: "If you take many previous races for sure I was strongest for a long time, but obviously when you finish 11th you get absolutely nothing so you [might] as well be last.

"It makes no difference, so that's why it's disappointing. Sure, there was a lot of positive, but the end result is still the same.

"I had quite an OK first lap but didn't have the speed to stay in the position.

"I managed to pass [Kevin] Magnussen but it just feels like we're lacking general speed a bit so we have to use the tyres more than others to hold onto them.

"And then obviously we run out of tyres a bit earlier. And then it multiplies during the race and it costs us a bit.

"But we're just lacking a little [of] speed generally. We were at least in a fight, but it's still a bit disappointing to finish 11th."

Raikkonen's team-mate Antonio Giovinazzi, who finished 14th at Austin and has since been confirmed for a second season at the squad, said the Alfa is "just missing grip", before adding "after that it is really difficult to drive".

"We were on different strategies with Kimi trying to finalise something," said Giovinazzi.

"But I think from my side, on mediums it was really difficult, on hards as well on the second stint.

"It was a little bit better on soft, but still too slow to be honest.

"We are still struggling on race pace. We tried to do something, but it's still not enough. [We will] try to do something next, and try to make it better for Brazil."