On the back of the progress it has made this season, Ferrari thinks that it is well set to deliver a leap forward next year to launch a full assault on the world championship.

But despite the optimistic performance figures, Raikkonen thinks it would be pointless to get carried away and over-optimistic about the potential.

When asked by Motorsport.com about whether the feedback from the factory had left him bullish about title ambitions for 2016, he said: “Obviously that is always the aim, but you can always see a lot of numbers, look at them and say it is going to be amazing.

“I have been around long enough to know that there is no team that will tell you that we will build a worse car. I am sure the people have done their homework in the team, and we improved a lot since last year.

“The aim is to make another step – but that depends what happens and what the other teams will do. Will it be enough? We will only see next year.

“I am sure we are going to have a good car, but is it good enough? Time will tell. We keep doing the right things and going in the right direction, so I am very pleased on that.

“And hopefully next year we are where we want to be and can fight for wins the whole weekend, and be the guys who will always try to be beaten.”