Formula One world champion Kimi Raikkonen said on Wednesday he needs a miracle to retain his title following a disappointing Italian Grand Prix. With four races left, the Ferrari driver is fourth and 21 points behind McLaren's championship leader Lewis Hamilton after trailing in ninth at a rainswept Monza on Sunday.
Ferrari's world champion Kimi Raikkonen stretched his Formula One lead to nine points with a dominant win from pole position in the Spanish Grand Prix on Sunday.
Ferrari's world champion Kimi Raikkonen made a strong start to Formula One's European season by dominating Spanish Grand Prix free practice on Friday. The Finn, championship leader after the opening three long-haul races, set a best time of one minute 20.649 seconds in the morning and then topped the afternoon timesheets in 1:21.935.
Force India began the European leg of the Formula One season on a promising note as both its drivers notched up top 10 finishes in the second practice session ahead of the Spanish Grand Prix in Barcelona. Fisichella was 17th on the timesheet in the first practice session while Sutil was 16th. In the afternoon, both bettered their timing, Fisichella finishing ninth, just ahead of his younger German teammate. Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen was fastest in both sessions.
Ferrari's times were eye-catching, and quicker than anything from last year's weather-affected first four-day test at the Circuit de Catalunya.
Ferrari made a strong start to the first day of Formula One testing, on Monday, with four-times world champion Sebastian Vettel top of the timesheets at lunchtime with 72 laps completed.
Brazilian Felipe Massa led Ferrari to a one-two victory at the Bahrain Grand Prix on Sunday with team mate Kimi Raikkonen seizing the championship lead from McLaren's Lewis Hamilton. Massa's sixth career win brought him his first points of the Formula One season and came at the same Sakhir desert circuit where he fired up his title challenge last year with a pole-to-flag victory.
Ferrari's Felipe Massa needs to repeat last year's dominant victory in Bahrain on Sunday to silence his critics after a poor start to the Formula One season. While McLaren's Lewis Hamilton leads the standings with 14 points, three clear of Ferrari's World champion Kimi Raikkonen and BMW Sauber's Nick Heidfeld, Brazilian Massa is yet to score.
Ferrari president Luca di Montezemolo praised McLaren driver Fernando Alonso after he lost his world title by just one point to the Italian team's Kimi Raikkonen.
"What an incredible finale, what a thrilling finish!" the former Ferrari driver said in a statement on his Web site (www.michael-schumacher.de) after Raikkonen and Felipe Massa took the first two spots for Ferrari to clinch the championship.
Kimi Raikkonen made a forgettable start to his world title defence when a fuel pump problem ruined his chances of securing pole position at the season-opening Australian Grand Prix. The Finn will start Sunday's race from the unfamiliar place of 16th on the grid after his Ferrari broke down at the end of Saturday's first qualifying session at Albert Park.
His unexpected title triumph ended 22-year-old Briton Lewis Hamilton's dreams of becoming the youngest champion in his debut season with McLaren.
The seven-times Formula One world champion is glad to be watching this year's gripping conclusion at home on television.
McLaren's Lewis Hamilton (107 points), Fernando Alonso (103) and Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen (100) will battle it out for the Formula One championship in the season-ending Brazilian Grand Prix this weekend.
Pre-season testing times suggest that Ferrari and McLaren, who won all the races between them last year, are still in a class of their own.
Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen turned the Formula One title battle into a three-way fight down to the wire with victory in China on Sunday after McLaren's championship leader Lewis Hamilton skidded out.
Finnish team mate Heikki Kovalainen second quickest on the second day of Formula One's final pre-season test.
The 39-year-old German will test Ferrari's 2008 car in Spain next week along with reigning F1 champion Kimi Raikkonen.
Hrithik as Krrish or Anil Kapoor as Mr India? Take your pick!
Force India's Sergio Perez has said he is yet to decide if he will drive for the Formula One team next season.
Valtteri Bottas won the Azerbaijan Grand Prix on Sunday and retook the Formula One lead from team mate Lewis Hamilton after a fourth successive one-two finish for Mercedes.
Hemant Birje will be back in the role that made him famous.
Felipe Massa led a Ferrari one-two to win the French Grand Prix on Sunday and take the lead in the Formula One championship for the first time.
Lewis Hamilton will have to pay $335,700 for his licence to race in Formula One in 2008.
Force India signed off its three-day testing in Valencia in style, with its Italian driver Giancarlo Fisichella completing 96 laps and clocking just under two seconds behind time-sheet topper Kimi Raikkonen of Ferrari.
McLaren's Lewis Hamilton will drop 10 places on the French Grand Prix starting grid after a pit lane collision with Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen in Canada on Sunday. Race stewards imposed the penalty after both drivers were forced to retire from a race that was eventually won by BMW Sauber's Robert Kubica.
The 23-year-old McLaren driver kissed goodbye to his championship lead with the most embarrassing moment of his fledgling Formula One career.
Poland's Robert Kubica took his and BMW Sauber's first Grand Prix victory to wrest the Formula One championship lead from McLaren's Lewis Hamilton on a miserable afternoon for the Briton.
Lewis Hamilton's lap of one minute 25.892 seconds is a track record at the Silverstone circuit.
The Mercedes driver told reporters he would seek a clarification from race director Charlie Whiting ahead of the next race in Spain.
Vijay Mallya's die-hard optimism finally gave away and the Force India owner could not hide his disappointment after Adrian Sutil's fairytale race in the Monaco Grand Prix came to a heart-breaking end in Monaco on Sunday. Sutil was running fourth and with seven minutes to go looked certain to pocket four championship points when Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen rammed into the back of the VJM01 car he was driving, putting paid to his hopes of a dream-come-true finish.
It was Ferrari's first pole in Monaco since Michael Schumacher in 2000.
Rediff readers debate the controversies surrounding Formula One.
Ferrari's world champion Kimi Raikkonen will lead the way when Formula One returns to Barcelona this weekend for the first race of the season in Europe. The Finn is top of the standings after the first three long-haul races, a novel sensation for a driver who won his title by clawing back a 17-point deficit in the last two rounds of 2007.
Ferrari's new champion Kimi Raikkonen was fourth on the timesheets.
Ferrari's world champion Kimi Raikkonen will lead the way when Formula One returns to Barcelona this weekend for the first race of the season in Europe. The Finn is top of the standings after the first three long-haul races, something of a novel sensation for a driver who won his title by clawing back a 17-point deficit in the last two rounds of 2007. Only once before, with McLaren in 2003, has he returned to Europe in such a position of strength.
Formula One championship leader Lewis Hamilton ended Ferrari's domination of French Grand Prix practice with the fastest time in Saturday's final session.
Lewis Hamilton said he had let down McLaren after a starting grid error cost him and his team the Formula One championship lead in Bahrain on Sunday. The Briton finished 13th at Sakhir and was overtaken in the standings by Ferrari's world champion Kimi Raikkonen.
Formula One will be badly damaged if 'grubby' legal manoeuvring leads to Kimi Raikkonen losing his title to McLaren's Lewis Hamilton in a courtroom, Ferrari's lawyer said.
Ferrari's Sebastian Vettel qualified third, ahead of 21-year-old Monegasque team mate Charles Leclerc who was unable to repeat his Bahrain Grand Prix pole of two weeks ago.
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