Raikkonen thinks Lotus on right track despite lack of running in Monaco practice

The Finn completed just one installation lap in first free practice after being unhappy with a modification to the power steering that was introduced for the Monte Carlo street circuit.

His running in the afternoon was hampered by rain showers that blighted second free practice.

Despite the situation, Raikkonen feels his E20 is in good shape - as long as the team can get on top of the tyre situation.

Speaking about how much of a setback his limited running was, Raikkonen said: "Of course it is not helpful, but that is why we have practice sessions to see if we have some issues.

"Usually, when you have some problems and you don't get running in the first one, then you have weather like this in the second one. So it is a bit more painful.

"I didn't go many laps in the dry - but the car in the wet was okay and everyone did the same laptime. We just have to fix a few small things and I think the car is okay if we get the tyres working in the right way."

Although Raikkonen could have benefited from getting more experience of the Monaco track during FP1, and having the steering changed in the gap between sessions, he reckons he did the right thing in not running at all.

"There was no point to try it like it was," he said. "We made some new steering here, because usually it is a bit better if you have faster steering, but unfortunately it didn't work as planned. So we couldn't really try it and we had to change.

"There were too many things to change and then you have to take the whole front end off, and they did not have time enough.

"I didn't get many laps in the dry but if you compare what Romain [Grosjean] did, it seems to look pretty good. We are probably in a similar position compared to the others as we are at other circuits."