Kimi Raikkonen claims Ferrari has made 'lot of improvements' to car during winter

Finnish racing driver Kimi Raikkonen is of the opinion that Ferrari has made significant improvements to the car over the winter, and claims that this year's car is completely different to last year.

The 2007 world champion, who was 12th in the drivers' standings last year, finished second quickest behind Sauber's rookie Felipe Nasr on his first day of testing at Jerez.

Raikkonen, who completed 92 laps driving the 2015 SF15-T Ferrari car, said that one usually knows if a car is good or not, and added that this year is a completely different story to last year, the BBC reported.

Raikkonen was making his first appearance on the track on the third day of testing at the Spanish circuit, after his new teammate, four-time world champion Sebastian Vettel, had tested the car on the opening two days.

The Finnish driver claimed that the whole team has clearly done a very good job over the winter as it was a positive first day, with a lot of improvements in areas where they had difficulties.

Ferrari appointed Maurizio Arrivabene as the new team principal and Vettel as the replacement for last season's number one driver Fernando Alonso over the close season, and Raikkonen said that there is an air of optimism around the Maranello team.

Raikkonen claimed that the atmosphere is very good within the team, adding that it's early days, but it's great to see how good it is, how well people are working together, and insists that with Vettel they have a good relationship so they can push the team forward.