Lotus technical director James Allison believes Kimi Raikkonen has a very realistic chance of winning the drivers' championship this season.

As the teams enter the mid-season break, Fernando Alonso leads the standings on 164 points, with Raikkonen 48 points back in fifth place. With Lotus showing strong performance, however, and 25 points available for victory, Allison says Raikkonen is right in the hunt to challenge throughout the second half of the season.

"Why not?" Allison told Sky Sports News when asked if Raikkonen could win the championship. "There are an awful lot of points for coming first and an awful lot of races left. The lead is miniscule compared to the points available."

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