Raikkonen targets Alfa Romeo improvement but accepts some factors are "out of our hands"

Alfa Romeo driver Kimi Raikkonen says there are a lot of factors "out of our hands" as the team aims for a more competitive campaign this year.

Raikkonen and team-mate Antonio Giovinazzi amassed only eight points as a pairing last year, scoring four-points each, as Alfa Romeo ended the season eighth in the constructors' standings ahead of only Haas and Williams.

Raikkonen is hopeful of an improved performance from the team this time around but acknowledged the large carryover of parts from 2020 into this year will hinder Alfa Romeo's attempts to move forward.

"I believe nothing is guaranteed, it will be more or less the same cars but there will be small changes and hopefully we can be a bit stronger," said the Finn.

"Obviously, we were a little bit off on the engine side and I am sure it will be a bit better than it was. But there are a lot of things that are out of our hands and the rule changes, I think it is quite a bit challenge actually so we will have to see how much we lose and how much we can recover.

"We will have to wait and see if we get into a better position." Giovinazzi enters his third season with Alfa Romeo and believes the team must put itself in a position where it can fight seventh-place AlphaTauri more often this time around.

"What we did last year was we pushed ahead, and we hope to fight for points for the next season and fighting with AlphaTauri would be really good," added Giovinazzi.

"They are the next team forward now, and we will see what will happen. Hopefully, we can get a better car and a better engine and be fighting for points in every race."

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