Raikkonen not expecting ‘night and day’ difference from Ferrari engine

Kimi Raikkonen says Ferrari’s Formula 1 engine upgrade will not make a “night and day difference” after he set the pace during Friday practice for the Belgian Grand Prix.

2018 title rivals Ferrari and Mercedes have both confirmed they will introduce their latest specification power units this weekend. Sebastian Vettel will also take on a new turbocharger and MGU-H, while Raikkonen has only moved onto a new combustion engine.

Friday proved a positive day for the Scuderia as Vettel topped the FP1 timesheets before Raikkonen lowered the pace further in second practice during the qualifying simulations to end the session 0.168s clear of Lewis Hamilton.

When asked what kind of boost he was expecting to receive from Ferrari’s new power unit, Raikkonen replied: “Obviously we never put in the car anything we don’t think is a bigger step forward or better so it’s not possible to say.

"It’s not a night and day difference ever, otherwise you could see by yourself if that was the case. All went OK but it was only Friday so who knows what will happen in the weekend.”

Vettel echoed his teammate’s comments on Ferrari’s upgraded engine and added its performance should be judged over the course of the next two races.

“It’s a bit difficult to know already,” Vettel explained. Also next week Monza is nearly a pure power track. We’ll see what the next two weeks bring. For now, everyone seems quite happy that the engine is doing what it’s supposed to do.”

Vettel set the pace in opening practice but struggled in FP2 and was forced to abort his first push lap when he ran wide at Stavelot.

The German ultimately improved to set the fourth-quickest time and was 0.7s adrift of Raikkonen, but insisted he has more time to find in the car.

“I think today has been OK. The car felt not yet where I want it to be, I think we need to do some work. Kimi maybe was a bit happier on one lap. But we still have a bit of time,” he said.

“We have a bit of margin, there’s quite a bit more in the car, I need to make sure I get to it tomorrow. Here is important if you’re confident to get the right timing as there isn’t much time to think, when to turn in and so on because the cars are quite fast. It needs to click. On one lap, it didn’t click. But overall, it’s going in the right way.”