Raikkonen's had some fantastic luck - Alonso

Newly-crowned world champion Fernando Alonso believes Kimi Raikkonen’s challenge for the Formula One title was fuelled by good fortune – despite the Finn’s numerous engine failures.

Raikkonen’s championship hopes ended at the Brazilian Grand Prix as Alonso became the youngest driver to win the title after a season in which the McLaren driver was dogged by mechanical problems.

The Finn suffered his fourth practice session blow-out today ahead of Sunday’s Japanese Grand Prix at Suzuka, a mechanical fault that will see him forced 10 places down the grid for the race. This follows on from similar incidents at the British, French and Italian grands prix earlier this year.

Alonso, however, believes rather than being unlucky, Raikkonen has been fortunate he has only had to retire twice – in Germany and San Marino – from races this season despite McLaren’s reliability problems.

“I have been saying this all year but nobody believed me when I said Kimi has been lucky all year,” said Renault’s world champion.

“I know it sounds strange but it is one of four or five engine problems he had. If this happened in the race...

“But it was always close. Last lap on Saturday morning or first laps on Friday. If this happened in the race before or in the race on Sunday he would have 30 or 40 points less.”

Raikkonen’s latest engine problems mean he will start 11th on Sunday as he and team-mate Juan Pablo Montoya seek to guide McLaren to the constructors’ title.

McLaren sit on top of the standings, two points ahead of Alonso’s Renault team with just two races to go and could, theoretically, win the title this weekend. That would take a one-two finish with Renault failing to place either driver in the top eight.

The Spaniard, though, believes Raikkonen will still be a threat in Sunday’s race, a fact borne out by the 25-year-old’s astonishing record this year when starting near the back of the grid.

Despite being well down the pecking order, Raikkonen’s all-action driving style saw him recover to finish second in France, third in Britain and fourth in Italy as he scythed through the field in what is generally seen as F1’s fastest car.

“With all the problems he had with the engine and starting from the back, he still reaches the podium and I think here will be quite similar,” said Alonso.

“He can finish on the podium easily, so this will not help us too much for the points. But maybe on Sunday there will be more problems for them.”