24/08/2008
NEWS STORY
Despite losing ground to both his title rivals, reigning World Champion Kimi Raikkonen insists all is not lost, and that he is still in the hunt.
Having qualified fourth the odds were already stacked against the Finn, however, his hopes were dealt a further blow when he lost out to Heikki Kovalainen at the start. Then, to compound matters, all hopes of a points scoring finish were scuppered when his engine detonated on the pit straight on the forty-sixth lap of today's race.
"There is still a long way to go so let's wait and see what happens," he told reporters following today's race. "I think I can do better than that so I am trying to improve."
To add to the Raikkonen's misery, during his second pit stop he was involved in an incident which resulted in one of his crew, Pietro Timpini, being injured when the Finn attempted to leave the pits before the refuelling hose had been removed.
"There is not much to say," he admitted. "I left a bit too early. It was my fault and unfortunately I ran over the guy who was refuelling. We need to look and see what really happened.
"It was not a good day," he continued, "but these things happen in racing. I am not too worried. I still think I can come back this season."
A barnstorming conclusion to the 2007 season saw the Finn make up a 17 point deficit in the final two races, taking the title from under the noses of Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso, against all the odds. The Finn hasn't ruled out a repeat this season.
"It was not a great weekend, but it is not the first time," he said. "We are in a bit of a worse situation in the championship, but if we get all the things sorted then I think we still have a chance to come back. We know what the issues have been, but unfortunately we haven't been able to sort them out. Hopefully now in the next test we can work a bit and try to find the solution for it. If we get the qualifying right it will help a lot."
Referring to his poor qualifying performances of late, which have left him going into races with the odds already stacked against him, he said: "I am sure I can still improve my qualifying and my results."