Kimi left with it all to do again for McLaren
Kimi Raikkonen admitted he threw away a probable pole position here at Interlagos Saturday but insisted he can hit back and fight for victory in Sunday`s Brazilian Grand Prix.
Raikkonen needs to win to keep his slim championship hopes alive and suffered a setback in his challenge when he made a mistake in qualifying to hand his title rival Fernando Alonso the top spot on the grid.
Raikkonen, who has won three of the last four races, will now start from fifth in his McLaren Mercedes and have to fight his way through the field but he is confident of his chances in the race itself.
"I will now focus on the race and anything is possible," declared the Finn. "We will just go for it and do what we can and our strategy should be strong so we will see what happens. It was a shame. I came into the first corner and locked up and lost seven-tenths of a second. I believe that without that mistake I could have been on pole for the race tomorrow."
Raikkonen is 25 points behind Alonso with just 30 left available from the final races in Brazil, Japan and China, and Alonso only needs to finish third to end Raikkonen`s title hopes.
Every second counts in Formula One and the vital seven tenths lost by Raikkonen`s mistake could help the title land in the lap of 24-year-old Alonso with two races still to go. However the Finn believes he made the best of a bad situation.
"I pushed hard for the rest of the lap but that sort of thing does upset your rhythm a bit," Raikkonen admitted. "I did what I could to make up for the mistake."
Team boss Ron Dennis warned Raikkonen to be aware of the cars around him at the start of Sunday`s race, with Briton Jenson Button just ahead and the Red Bull Racing car of Austrian Christian Klien alongside. But Dennis believes that if the Finn and his Colombian team-mate Juan Pablo Montoya make it through the opening laps cleanly then their race tactics should put victory back in Raikkonen`s grasp.
"Kimi made a mistake which means things are a bit more of a challenge but our race strategy should unfold in such a way that it will not be too much of a penalty," said Dennis.
McLaren are Formula One`s form team having won five of the last six races and claimed pole position in every one of the last three events but Renault appear to have closed the gap thanks to new developments on their car... That plus a rare mistake from Raikkonen.


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