Raikkonen says he did the best he could

The former world champion qualified in ninth place, while team-mate Felipe Massa finished down in 11th.

Raikkonen believes he actually put on a good performance, but said his car was simple not fast enough.

"I didn't have much expectations, I didn't know exactly where we are, so overall I think we did as good a job as we could in the qualifying," said Raikkonen.

"Unfortunately the car is more or less where we are now. We did nothing wrong, we couldn't really go much faster."

The Finn reckons his team has continued to improve in the last few races, but he feels its rivals have taken bigger steps forward.

"We try to do the best that we can in every race. For sure is more fun to fight for first place but that's not happening right now. We are where we are and still pushing forward and trying to improve all the time.

"Sometimes the races can be exciting when you are fighting in the middle of the field, but for sure we would prefer to be in front.

"We have improved the time all the times, but the other teams have improved it even more. We are improving all the time but other people do not stop improving."

Raikkonen also claimed he did not believe he had distracted Red Bull Mark Webber, after the Australian was critical of the Finn for being in the racing line during his final flying lap.

"I tried to lose to the side as much as I could, so I don't think he lost any time," Raikkonen said.