Kimi Raikkonen has no regrets over his win-or-bust gamble at the Nurburgring and goes into this weekend’s Canadian Grand Prix in Montreal with his world championship ambition burning as bright as ever.

The Finn was all set to close on world championship pacesetter Fernando Alonso when he entered the last lap of the European Grand Prix two weeks ago in the lead.

But he ended the race a further 10 points down after a suspension failure pitched him out of the race.

Vibrations from a damaged tyre caused the accident but McLaren opted to keep Raikkonen on track and in the hunt for victory, rather than make an extra pit stop and claim a safe third place.

Despite leaving Germany with no points from another dominant weekend, Raikkonen is adamant McLaren did the right thing and insists he still has a real chance to claim the title, despite trailing Alonso by 32 points.

Raikkonen, who caused the problem by locking up while lapping a back-marker, said: “In the end we needed to gain more points than Alonso and he was behind me.

“I didn’t see any reason to come in when we were in a position to take two points more than him.


“We took the gamble and it didn’t pay off but I would still do the same thing again.

“I don’t complain to anyone else, it was my mistake and it cost me quite a bit. It’s always easy to say afterwards that if I had braked earlier it wouldn’t have happened.”

On his championship chances, Raikkonen added: “We got some points back [with wins in Spain and Monaco] but it’s not easy to gain much back because they keep finishing races.

“There are many races to go so anything can happen. As long as we keep finishing races ahead of him there is still a chance.

“It was never going to be easy but we have to do our best.”

Raikkonen is convinced his McLaren is still the car to beat this weekend in Montreal.

The Finn has been the fastest man on track for the last four races, with engine and tyre problems respectively denying him certain victory in San Marino and Nurburgring, and he believes that advantage will continue in Canada this weekend.

“We had a very good test last week,” he said.

“The car is quick, better than it was in the last race. I am pretty hopeful the car will be good here.

“For sure the car will be good in the United States because every car we have made has been good there.

“Here is more of a question mark but I don’t see why we shouldn’t be competitive here.

“I think Renault are a very reliable package but we have at least as good car as they have, we can fight against them.

“Hopefully we are stronger at every point than they are but we shall see.”

Rain is predicted over the weekend in Montreal but Raikkonen is confident even the Canadian weather cannot derail his bid for a third win of the season.

McLaren’s Michelin tyres have struggled in wet weather but Raikkonen helped test new designs recently and, even though he concedes Bridgestone still possess a slight advantage, he is not concerned at reports of thunderstorms throughout the three-day weekend.

He added: “I think the intermediate tyres are pretty good.

“We have had some opportunities to use them and they seem as quick as the Bridgestone.

“I think the full wets are not on the same level but they are improving all the time – it depends how much water is on the circuit.

“I don’t think we should have any major problems even if it rains.”

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