Despite Ferrari's decision to halt development on their 2009 F60, Kimi Raikkonen feels the team took a step forward at Sunday's Japanese GP.

Ferrari and Raikkonen suffered a dismal start to the season, the Italian marque's worst in 20 years, which meant both the team and the driver were soon out of the race for the World titles.

A fight back mid-season, though, ensured some pride was salvaged with Raikkonen clinching four successive podiums, including the race win at the Belgian GP.

But with Ferrari halting development on the F60 to concentrate on next year's car, Raikkonen's form suffered in Singapore before he bounced back last weekend in Japan to claim fourth place, the "best result" Ferrari could've achieved.

"At the Japanese GP we've made a step forward compared to Singapore, where we weren't even able to fight for a place in the points: the fourth place was the best result we could reach and we have to be satisfied with it," said the former World Champion.

"In theory a fourth place is a great result, but as a team we need these five points, which enabled us to keep the third place in the Constructors' standings. There was no possibility to fight for a place on the podium."

With just two races left on this year's calendar, Ferrari lead McLaren by two points in the race for third while Raikkonen is fifth in the Drivers' Championship, 6.5 points behind Mark Webber and two ahead of Lewis Hamilton.