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Marco Mattiacci believes the Brazilian Grand Prix was the first time Ferrari has seen Kimi Raikkonen's true potential this year.

Raikkonen finished seventh behind Fernando Alonso at Interlagos, but was in a tight battle with his team-mate in the final laps and was the only driver able to make a two-stop strategy work. Raikkonen has struggled with the Ferrari all season and complained of a lack of front-end grip, but Mattiacci says he has never doubted the Finn.

"I think we have seen a very positive Kimi this weekend [in Brazil] and he really did a terrific race, as Fernando did," Mattiacci said. "But considering where we are coming from [with Raikkonen], I would say this was really one of the first weekends where Kimi felt the car suited him, and we have seen this with his racing.

"Kimi is a top professional and he doesn't need pressure from me, we work well together. He's a top driver and we're building step-by-step preparing for the future. He knows very well how to react to pressure and I'm extremely happy for the race he did."

Raikkonen lost time due to a problem with the front jack at his second pit stop, but Mattiacci said the Ferrari team made up for the mistake by working wonders with the car earlier in the weekend.

"Unfortunately there was this issue at the pit stop with Kimi, but it happened and I'm extremely confident with the work that all these guys are doing in the pits and they are excellent guys. If I told you what we have experienced during the weekend, they did a phenomenal job to make sure the car was ready to go to the grid."

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