In marathons, never give up...same thing in F1

Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen believes he will regain his competitiveness, despite his poor showing at last weekend's German Grand Prix. Raikkonen, who qualified in sixth, eventually crossed the finish line in the same position to score three world championship points.

“It was the most difficult weekend of the year: a horrible Friday, an even more complicated Saturday and a very bad Sunday,” the Finn told Ferrari’s official website. “During the tests on this track the week before the car went pretty well, at least that was the feeling we got. In the race it seemed as if we were in a different place. We never managed to find a good set up and the car had absolutely no stability.

“You need good grip to drive good lap times at Hockenheim, but the rear went all over the place for the whole race. It's true that we had some problems at the beginning of the season to set up the car as I wanted, but we never had problems like we had at Hockenheim. When you're lacking grip in the rear you can't go fast enough to fight for the top positions.”

The reigning world champion last won a race at the Spanish event back in April, but he remains confident that the team will be able to improve the car and he is now focusing on the next Grand Prix in Hungary.

“We have to check and analyse every single detail and find out why we went so slowly, because there has to be something that didn't work properly,” he added. “The situation is quite complicated, but nothing is lost - we have to stay calm and react the way we know how to. I'm confident that we'll have a F2008 that can fight for a win again soon.”

Raikkonen lies third in the driver standings on 51 points, seven behind leader Lewis Hamilton (58) and three adrift of team mate Felipe Massa (54).