Kimi Raikkonen will recover his form and be a factor in the 2017 world championship, insists former Formula 1 driver JJ Lehto.
His Ferrari team mate Sebastian Vettel has won two of the three Grand Prix so far this season. By contrast, Raikkonen has failed to finish on the podium. He was fourth in the opening race in Melbourne and last week in Bahrain, and came fifth in China.
Vettel currently leads the drivers championship standings with 68 points, while Raikkonen has exactly half that tally. All of which is leading to speculation that Raikkonen is increasingly out of favour with Maranello's senior management.
"We need to sit down and discuss with Kimi," Ferrari chairman Sergio Marchionne said after Shanghai. "He seemed to have other things on his mind. It was not his day. Was he tired?"
But fellow Finn Lehto - who drove for teams including Benetton and Sauber in 62 Grand Prix races from 1989 to 1994 - backs Raikkonen to bounce back.
"I haven't heard anything about what his problems have been, but Kimi did not have a very easy start to the season," Lehto, a former Ferrari test driver, admitted to Finland's Iltalehti newspaper.
"But the team is working really well and I know Kimi can do better," he insisted.
"When you start having problems, it can snowball quickly," he added. "But once you get the small details sorted out things can start to work well again.
"After all, Kimi has definitely not lost his speed. Last year he drove really well and that doesn't suddenly disappear over one winter."
Raikkonen had a similar start to his 2016 season. After a DNF in Melbourne he came second in Bahrain, fifth in China and then podium finishes in Russia and Spain.
He finished the season in sixth place in the championship, 26 points behind his team mate, but was still retained by Ferrari for a new season.
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