© Autosport

Kimi Raikkonen said his third place finish at the Monaco Grand Prix had to be considered as a good result for the Ferrari team, given the steps forward it has made since the beginning of the season.

The 2007 world champion started from the front row and ran within a handful of seconds of Rubens Barrichello's Brawn for most of the race, giving Ferrari its first podium finish since last year's Brazilian Grand Prix.

"We need to be happy with this result, given the way the team started the season," said the Finn. "Of course in the bigger picture I'm not happy with third place - I'm disappointed. But, in this situation, for the team it's a good result."

Raikkonen had expected to challenge pole-sitter Jenson Button for the lead into Ste Devote on the opening lap, due to the Finn having a lighter car and the added advantage of KERS under acceleration. Instead though, he lost a position to Barrichello, and was unable to improve his position over the course of the race.

"It is not the first time I have been in second place and lost position at the start," Raikkonen added. "It is very slippery on that side [of the track], and they were on the soft tyres at the start, so that definitely didn't help us. Then I had a little bit longer second stint, but in the second pitstop, Rubens got a long way ahead. I don't know what happened there. We're still not where we want to be – we have many things to do to be able to fight for first position – but the people are working very hard at the factory and we have improved the car quite a lot at least."

Full transcript of the FIA press conference (© FIA):

Question: Kimi, a great return to form for Ferrari. Talk about being beaten off the line by Rubens and then your day thereafter.

Kimi: Yeah, it is not the first time when I have been in second place and always lose one position. The start seems to be very slippery on that side plus they were on the softer tyres, so it definitely helped at the start. It was not nice to see as we were faster than Rubens but there was no way past him. We lost a lot of time at the beginning and that was the only chance to try and stay behind Jenson. Then I had a little bit longer second stint. I don’t know what happened at the pit stop but we lost a lot of time and Rubens was still a long way ahead of me when I came out. We still have work to do to be where we want to be and fight for the first place. But many small things changed this weekend as yesterday being first place probably would have given us a better chance. We need to be happy after a very difficult start to the season. The people have been working very hard at the factory and here at the circuit, so we improved the car very quickly once we realised we can do something different with the rules. We need to be very happy with what we achieved today. Third and fourth is not bad. We should get some new package again for next race and it should help. I am disappointed, definitely, but in this situation we need to be a bit happier. I am not happy with third place but for the team it is still a good result.

Question: Kimi, you spoke about the start to Peter Windsor; did you use KERS at the start?

Kimi: Yeah, but there’s not much use for it if you start spinning your wheels straight away, so that’s where we lost the start. At any other place I could have kept second place. You gain a lot with KERS on long straights but it doesn’t really make much difference here. It’s more the first jump off the line. They had soft tyres, we had harder ones. The right hand side is probably a little bit better for the start anyhow. We just lost it there. It was all fighting after that. We were faster when Rubens had his problems with the tyres at the beginning but then after that, it all played out with very similar pace. We went a little bit longer in the second stint but they seem to be faster in the pit stops. I don’t know what they did but we were still a long way behind when I came out of the pits. That’s how it went. Without being third at the start, we could probably have taken second place but it’s still not what we wanted really. I think, overall, we’re not fast enough really yet to fight for first place. We need to be happy; we’ve still got good results for the team compared to what we had in previous races this year. It’s disappointing to finish third but good for the team and for sure we’re happier now as a team and we’re scoring points. We’ll probably get a little more peace now from everyone as a team. We’re coming back but it will take a while before we’re exactly where we want to be but we definitely made big steps in recent months. We need to be positive. People have done a really good job at the factory and at the circuit to push hard, so we’re starting to get results and that always helps people to push harder.

Question: (Heikki Kulta – Turun Sanomat) Kimi, did Felipe make it difficult to keep third place?

Kimi: It wasn’t easy for me. I needed to push all the time. We tried to push anyhow, to jump Rubens in the pit stops but we couldn’t. I didn’t know how many more laps Felipe had than me but I knew that it was going to be close but in the end it was not very close. I was pushing all the time anyhow. We knew it was going to be pretty tight but in the end it turned out to be pretty easy. After that we could slow down and just save the brakes and tyres and speed up a little bit at the end because there was one of the Red Bulls catching us up, so we just had to pick up the pace a bit. But apart from that, after the last pit stop it was great.

Question: (Livio Oricchio – O Estado de Sao Paulo) Kimi, you made your second pit stop before Massa like the first one. Do think that if Jenson Button left the pits after the second pit stop behind Massa, do you think your place would have been at risk?

Kimi: I’m not interested in even thinking about it. Why should I? I was third in the end, that’s the end result. I came in early because at the first stop we tried to jump Rubens because he was so slow with the tyres. We were forced to stop a bit because the people behind us were catching us quickly, so that’s why we were earlier than him but in the end we were third and it doesn’t matter what they did, that’s where we ended up.