Kimi Raikkonen admits he hasn't had a great 2015 season - adding that a high retirement rate did him no favors in his battle with Ferrari teammate Sebastian Vettel.
However, Raikkonen believes that both he and Ferrari can make a step forward next year.
"Pretty average, I must say," Raikkonen said when asked about his season. "Better than last year, but still far away from what it should be. But, that's life and next year we'll try again.
"It's not been the easiest few years, but that's how it goes. We improved a lot from last year, but we're still not happy. When I don't finish five races, it's many races out of how many we've done so far this year. We have to improve, and I'm sure we can still improve it, and next year is a new challenge. Let's see. I'm sure we can do better."
Raikkonen said it was impossible to judge whether Ferrari can challenge Mercedes next season.
"Obviously this year has been a lot stronger year from the team than in previous years and you can easily see it from whichever way you look at it and it all comes to next year. Obviously that's the aim - always to try to be in the front.
"We have to wait until we put the cars on the circuit in a test and the first few races â then we really see where we are. Obviously, there's a lot of work being done at the factory, but it's never the same until we're really on the circuit. Time will only tell."
When asked what he could promise Ferrari fans next season, Raikkonen was optimistic.
"We're going to give our best and hopefully it's enough to fight for championships," he added. We keep improving, following our own way of doing the things that we've done from last year to this year, and hopefully then it's enough to be where we want to be.
"I really hope for all the guys there in Ferrari that we will come back strong - or stronger next year than this year - but there's no point to make big promises. We're going to do our best and then we'll see."
