Raikkonen seeks third time lucky

McLaren make their 600th Formula One start this weekend and, in front of Mercedes’ home crowd, they need to mark the occasion with a return to form.

The silver cars started the season as the most likely team to relieve Renault of their world championships, having pushed hard in 2005. But Kimi Raikkonen and Juan Pablo Montoya have remained firmly in Fernando Alonso’s shadow.

Their consistency has kept McLaren within 17 points of Renault in the constructors’ table but Raikkonen lags 18 down on Alonso in the drivers’ standings, with Montoya even further back.

Raikkonen badly needs a win to give his title challenge fresh impetus – and what better place than the Nurburgring, where fate has been so cruel to the Finn in the past?

Three years ago his Mercedes engine robbed him of a sure-fire win, while he got even closer to top spot 12 months ago before a last-lap suspension failure ended his race. Both near misses were turning points in his championship defeats.

So, the time is right for Raikkonen to get third time lucky and buck his trend of ill fortune at the ’Ring, a track which has brought him a solitary third place back in 2002.

The venue, also, is right for Mercedes. The German giants have only one win to celebrate, coming back in 1998, at their spiritual home since their return to Formula One with McLaren a decade ago.

For a manufacturer with long memories of Nurburgring domination before the advent of Formula One, that barren run hurts, especially as their recent pain has come in front of over 6,000 of their own workers in the Mercedes grandstand.

This weekend’s European Grand Prix is the perfect opportunity to add some sparkle to the Silver Arrows – and re-ignite the championship battle.

Michael Schumacher’s Imola win two weeks ago may have ended Renault’s unbeaten run this season but it did little to harm their chances of back-to-back title doubles.

They remain the fastest car on the grid, even if Ferrari’s home-turf improvements sustain outside of Italy, and Alonso remains the man to beat.

Already the Spaniard knows he can afford to be beaten in the next seven races and still retain his championship lead, if he finishes second every time. That is the kind of equation he played so successfully to his advantage last year, keeping a baying Raikkonen at arm’s length.

If this season’s promise of a multi-team title battle is to be fulfilled, Raikkonen needs a result to remember this weekend, ideally coupled with one to forget for Alonso.