Vettel: Raikkonen struggles at Ferrari are distorted

Sebastian Vettel believes he and Ferrari team-mate Kimi Raikkonen are well-matched, claiming the German's vast statistical success over his veteran colleague is "a bit distorting". Raikkonen has not won a race since returning to the Scuderia, a drought which has almost reached 100 grands prix.

Next weekend's Spanish Grand Prix is the 100th race Raikkonen will take part in since his last victory at the 2013 Australian Grand Prix.

The Finn has only bettered Vettel's result on-track 11 times since they were united at Ferrari in 2015.

And, though Vettel has won 10 grands prix in that timeframe, including the opening two races of 2018, he believes Raikkonen fares well in terms of performance.

He said: "I think one thing is always to look at the result and the other one, if you look a little bit deeper…

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"I think it's been incredibly close this year so far. He's obviously… to be honest, most of the Fridays I think he had the upper hand so far.

"Here and there was [I] struggling to understand the car and feel the car so I think knowing him, knowing his strength, he's incredibly talented and able to drive around problems.

"So, as I said, it's been quite close this year."

Raikkonen's future at Ferrari is unclear, with Daniel Ricciardo's potential move into free agency of reported interest to the Maranello hierarchy.

While Vettel talked up a potential reunion with his former Red bull team-mate before this season started, he remains motivated by the challenge Raikkonen brings to him.

"If you look also the previous years the image is a bit distorting," Vettel explained. "It wasn't as one-sided as you might think if you look at the results.

"I think we're a good pair, a good match. We just said recently there's no problem at all between us ever and there were races where I messed up, crashed into him, took him out and yeah, life goes on.

"I think that's a really big bonus for the team and for us to just enjoy our job."