BAKU, Azerbaijan -- Kimi Raikkonen believes he has the same opportunities to win races as Ferrari teammate Sebastian Vettel this year, saying that the rules that govern their strategies are clear.
At the last grand prix in China, Raikkonen's strategy saw him drop from fourth to sixth at the first round of pit stops as he was seemingly kept on track to help manufacturer an opportunity for Vettel to repass Valtteri Bottas for the lead. Whatever the thinking, the strategy failed and Bottas retained the lead while Raikkonen lost two places due to an unusually long -- and therefore much slower -- opening stint of the race than Lewis Hamilton and Daniel Ricciardo.
Raikkonen managed to battle back to third with the help of a Safety Car bunching the field, but even then there was a missed opportunity as Ferrari did not mirror the race-winning strategy of Red Bull's Daniel Ricciardo.
Ahead of this weekend's Azerbaijan Grand Prix, Raikkonen was asked if he felt he was being given an equal opportunity to fight for the championship as his teammate.
"It's one of those things -- it's always easy after the race to say what we should have done," the Finn said. "Once you know the final result it's easy to say this and that, but no one knows it during the races.
"You try to do the best you can, sometimes it's OK, sometimes it's not, but that's a normal case in any racing conditions. As far as know I have 100 per cent the same chances as everybody else, we try to make the best out of it."
Asked if he felt his race in China was compromised to help Vettel, he added: "I don't know. For sure it was probably not ideal but the Safety Car helped and the end result was OK.
"It depends which way you look; I got third, obviously I want more, the team wants more, but it could have been a lot worse."
Raikkonen said the rules in Ferrari are clear and give the leading teammate the advantage when it comes to the timing of the first pit stop.
"Yes, that's what most of us know. There's so many people watching and saying what they think, but we know what the rules are, they are very simple and clear.
"Most people make it very complicated but, like I said, it's easy to speak after the race, but we got the best end result we could."