Raikkonen not surprised by gap to Red Bull in Monaco F1 qualifying

Kimi Raikkonen was not surprised by the gap to Red Bull's Daniel Ricciardo during Formula 1 qualifying for the Monaco Grand Prix on Saturday after finishing four-tenths of a second back from the pole position time.

Ricciardo continued his streak of leading every session in the Monaco race weekend by topping FP3 and all three strages of qualifying on Saturday, beating his own track record in Q3 en route to pole position.

Ferrari looked to stand the best chance of putting up a fight to Ricciardo in qualifying, with Sebastian Vettel finishing two-tenths of a second behind in P2, but Raikkonen was four-tenths of a second back in P4, slipping behind Mercedes' Lewis Hamilton.

"I think we could have been more at ease with the tyres, putting in the right temperature window more easily, but it’s more tricky here," Raikkonen said.

"It’s been like that for many years, sometimes it’s a little bit better, sometimes the laps are a bit more difficult. For sure there were things to improve, but for sure if you know how to fix all of those things then you’ll obviously never have issues. It’s a normal situation.

"Here everything is all about trusting what it will happen. If you have that, then the lap time will come. It was a bit tricky, a bit difficult and it could have been better. But it also could have been a lot worse."

Asked about the deficit to Red Bull at the front of the field, Raikkonen said he was not overly surprised given the team's form through the weekend leading up to qualifying and its pace at other tracks.

"I think Red Bull has been in front here all weekend," Raikkonen said. "I think traditionally it has been a good track for them, and they think it’s a big surprise. But like I said earlier, if you have the right feeling here, then the lap time comes very easily.

"We know we weren’t 100 percent happy with things, so I’m not surprised with the time difference."