His reign as world champion may be about to come to an end but Kimi Raikkonen is looking to wrap up a frustrating season on a high. The Finn trails championship leader Lewis Hamilton by 27 points with only a maximum of 30 left to race for, but he gave himself a good chance of winning today's Japanese Grand Prix by qualifying second. The Ferrari driver will line-up behind Hamilton and said he will drive all out for the victory, believing his title chance has gone.
"I don't have much to lose," he said. "For sure we want to try to win both championships but it is not going to be easy against McLaren. "But I will do the best job I can and hopefully we can fight for the win and if we can get it, that would be nice. "I think that we should have a strong car and we will see if we can win. It would be nice, but if not, we try to take the maximum points from the races, but we definitely just want to go for wins in the last three races and see where we end up."
Raikkonen's compatriot Heikki Kovalainen was third in his McLaren-Mercedes and he was satisfied with his display as he looks to support teammate Hamilton's championship challenge. He said: "I put two good laps together in the final session. "We were very quick in Q2 as well - and, while third was really the best I could manage today, I'm still very pleased with the overall result." gcaygill@thenational.ae
