AUSTIN, Texas -- Kimi Raikkonen says his pace looked worse than it actually was during Friday practice for the U.S. Grand Prix because he made a mistake on his quick lap in the second session.
Raikkonen finished tenth fastest and 1.5s down on pacesetter Nico Rosberg, but ran wide at the penultimate corner on his hot lap on super-soft tyres.
"It was a bit difficult in first practice and also second, but obviously second looks worse because I went off on the new tyres and lost some of the lap time out of it," he said. "We have to work on set-up and make it more where we want it to be, but apart from that it was just a normal Friday."
When it was put to him by an Italian journalist that it was a practice session "full of trouble", he said: "It's not full of trouble, you are trying to make a big story out of it. It's the normal set-up work and sometimes you get it right and of course we only have a certain amount of tyres to get it right. We have some work to be done, but it's usually the same on Friday so that's it."
Ferrari qualified on the second row at the last round in Japan but both drivers were hit by grid penalties and started further back. Raikkonen is hopeful Ferrari will have a similar level of competiveness at the Circuit of Americas, despite his scrappy Friday.
"Obviously the last few races we have had a tricky Friday and it's not the best start. But we will have to work on the set-up a bit and make it better for tomorrow to see where we are. I think time wise, then it's going to be pretty similar to how it was last weekend."