Shanghai, China - Kimi Raikkonen has had to watch new team-mate Sebastian Vettel make headlines so far this season but the Finn joined the Ferrari party in Friday's Chinese Grand Prix practice.
Vettel, who joined the Formula One glamour team from Red Bull at the end of 2014, has made an immediate impact after going toe-to-toe with dominant Mercedes in Melbourne and winning in Malaysia.
Raikkonen, who talked up the car in pre-season testing, meanwhile suffered bad luck in the first two races.
Botched pit stops ruined his race in Australia before the 2007 world champion battled to fourth place in Sepang after a compromised qualifying session and an early puncture.
On Friday, he finally enjoyed a trouble-free run in practice for Sunday's race and proved more than a match for everyone bar championship leader Lewis Hamilton as he chased the Mercedes home in the afternoon session.
Raikkonen easily outpaced Vettel and showed again that Ferrari is a force to be reckoned with.
“Overall it has been a good day of work,” he said. “In the afternoon, we had a problem with the brakes but the mechanics did a very good job and managed to fix it, then I was able to go back on track and go on with the programme.
Raikkonen clocked 1m37.622s in the afternoon, about four-tenths slower than Hamilton, but held back on making a forecast for the race.
“It's a bit early to make predictions, we still have things to improve,” he said. “Tomorrow we have to make sure that everything works and have another good day without any issues or problems and then we'll do our best for qualifying and the race.”
MILESTONE
Vettel, who was third in the morning and fourth in the afternoon, said Mercedes still had the best overall package but was not too concerned about the battle ahead.
“Generally I feel happy in the car but I think we can improve it for tomorrow, that is usually what Friday is for,” the four-times world champion said.
“Fight for pole with Mercedes tomorrow? They were very strong today. For us the most important thing is to make a step forward, there are a few things that we can improve.”
MILESTONE
He played is playing down the prospect of repeating his shock Malaysian Grand Prix victory in Shanghai this weekend, despite standing on the brink of emulating a feat achieved by one of Formula One's most revered drivers.
Vettel recorded an emotional maiden Ferrari triumph at a sweltering Sepang circuit a fortnight ago, moving him to 40 career victories - just one less than the late, great Brazilian Ayrton Senna.
The win also allowed him to follow in the footsteps of German compatriot and seven-times world champion Michael Schumacher of winning for Ferrari, although Vettel achieved the feat in just his second race for the sport's most successful team.
Schumacher recorded his first victory for Ferrari in his seventh race with the team.
"I think it's very special," Vettel told reporters of Senna's milestone at a chilly Shanghai International Circuit.
"Obviously it took me a while to get number 40 done - but I hope the next one is not that far away. But, yeah, I think it would certainly mean a lot for any driver."
ALL-TIME GREATS
Vettel is known to take a keen interest in the history of the sport and was tempted away from Red Bull, where he won four consecutive world titles, by the lure of Ferrari and a chance to join Formula One's most prestigious team.
He grew up idolising Schumacher and admitted he wasn’t aware he was within touching distance of the benchmark set by Senna, arguably the sport's most respected driver, who was killed in a crash at Imola in 1994.
"First of all I wasn't aware to be honest," added Vettel, who is currently fourth on the all-time list of Grand Prix winners. "I know Michael's number but that's just ridiculous if you look at numbers."
Schumacher leads that tally with 91 victories, followed by Senna's rival and four-times world champion Alain Prost on 51, while the Senna is third.
Vettel's win in Malaysia was his first since the 2013 season-ending Brazilian Grand Prix and Ferrari's first since the Spanish Grand Prix that same year.
It also snapped an eight-race winning streak for Mercedes, giving the sport a much-needed shot in the arm at a time when the German team appeared to be streets ahead of its Formula One rivals.
But Vettel, who benefited from a strategic gamble by his race engineers and the searing temperatures in Malaysia, is less confident of scoring a second consecutive win in the cooler temperatures expected in China.
"It was obviously nice for us to see that we were so competitive," he said. "There were also a couple of circumstances coming together but most important we managed to capitalise and get a very good result and win the race.
"We managed to do a very good job in Malaysia. But for here and for the next races, we have to be realistic about what we want to achieve."
Reuters