Raikkonen rues US GP farce

Kimi Raikkonen admits his world championship bid has been damaged by McLaren’s decision not to race in Indianapolis almost a fortnight ago.

The Finn arrives at Magny-Cours for this weeend’s French Grand Prix trailing Renault’s championship leader Fernando Alonso by 22 points with 10 races remaining.

He was denied the chance toclose that gap further in the United States when all the Michelin-supplied teams opted not to race due to safety fears.

That decision was particularly hard to take for Raikkonen, who needed all McLaren’s powers of persuasion to keep him from starting a race which he was favourite to win.

Raikkonen, who flew to New York while the race was still underway, said: “It was disappointing but in the end there was nothing that could be done. I listened to what people said should be done.

“Every race we don’t race is not going to help us because we need as many races as possible to try and catch up the Renaults and Alonso. But that is the situation.”

Raikkonen is positive ahead of this weekend’s race, believing his McLaren will again be the car to beat after more improvements.

He added: “I think the car should be good. We have some new parts and a new engine so I am looking forward to it.”

This weekend is again shaping up to be a battle between McLaren and home heroes Renault, who still head both championships after their stunning start to the season.

Their points advantage may remain but recent races suggest Renault’s performance advantage has been eroded by McLaren.

Alonso is optimistic his car will be a match for Raikkonen’s and expects Renault’s home race to be a happy one.

The Spaniard said: “Indianapolis was a difficult weekend for everybody and not a fantastic feeling when you have to come into the pits. But the situation was like that.

“It’s true we lost 10 points but always wen you arrive at the grand prix you are thinking of scoring points. We need to race and score points as that is the main thing from a weekend – hopefully this Sunday will be good for us.

“I hope this year we can be competitive here. The car is performing well at all circuits and perhaps here even more so.

“Obviously it’s the home grand prix so a lot of Renault people will be here and lot of important people from Renault.

“We are all very excited and I am optimistic. We arrive at a very good moment leading both championships, we arrive at a perfect point this weekend in Magny-Cours.”

Alonso and Raikkonen are battling to steal the crown from Michael Schumacher, whose championship defence was given an unexpected boost by events at Indianapolis.

The Ferrari driver was effectively given a free 10 points and he now trails Alonso by just 25, despite a poor first half of the season.

However, after sometimes unexpected optimism regarding his title chances earlier this year, Schumacher prepared for the French Grand Prix by sounding a downbeat note.

“I think it needs a bit more than just another win here but it would be the right way to go ahead,” he said.

“We have been working pretty hard the last several months and we have made progress pretty obviously.

“I just hope that the next step we bring here will bring us back into the real competition.

“We were looking quite good in Indianapolis and we perhaps could look a little bit better here.”