Magny-Cours marked the turning point of the Finn's season last year and he needs another French Grand Prix win on Sunday after slipping to fourth place overall.
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.
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.
Ferrari's Formula One title contender Kimi Raikkonen escaped injury when he crashed at high speed in Saturday's final practice for his team's home Italian Grand Prix.
Lotus apologised on Monday for bad language in a heated exchange with their driver Kimi Raikkonen during Sunday's Indian Formula One Grand Prix.
The 'Dream Team' so closely associated with Michael Schumacher's success is no more.
Alonso, who will make his McLaren debut after winning the Formula One championship for the past two years with Renault, had to make do with second place on the starting grid.
Kimi Raikkonen won the Belgian Grand Prix for Ferrari's first success of the Formula One season on Sunday after championship leader Jenson Button crashed on the opening lap.
The 27-year-old Finn had his first Formula One test for the Italian glamour team at a damp Vallelunga circuit on Tuesday.
Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen kept himself in the Formula One title race on Sunday with his third Belgian Grand Prix win in a row.
The McLaren driver was crowned driver of the year by Britain's Autosport magazine despite being beaten to the F1 title by Alonso.
Kimi Raikkonen, the only man standing between 24-year-old Alonso and the title, made an error in qualifying for the Brazilian Grand Prix. and starts on the third row in fifth place.
The Finn, second in the Formula One championship to Renault's Fernando Alonso, suffered a blown engine in Friday's first free practice.
Kimi Raikkonen will start Sunday's British Grand Prix from pole position after a flying qualifying lap that showed McLaren were back in business.
The FIA confirmed it had written to teams using Michelin tyres outlining new rules for measuring tread width at the September 14 Italian Grand Prix.
Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen said his Formula One title defence remained alive on Sunday despite a European Grand Prix retirement extending his winless run to eight races. The 28-year-old Finn, whose last victory was in Spain at the end of April, was involved in a bungled pit stop and then suffered a spectacular engine failure at Valencia's new street circuit.
Ferrari must make their car quicker as soon as possible or risk racing among the also-rans for the rest of the season, Kimi Raikkonen said on Saturday. The Italian team, constructors' champions last year, have made their worst start for 17 years with no points from the first two races of the season.
Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen spent a large part of last season denying that he lacked motivation while looking for all the world like a man going through the motions.
Kimi Raikkonen has suggested he could walk away from Formula One after losing his place at Ferrari to Spain's Fernando Alonso.
Whether the stellar line-up of champions, Ferrari's first such pairing for 50 years, blazes a trail to title glory or derails itself in a shower of sparks along the way remains to be seen.
McLaren's double world champion Fernando Alonso will join the Finn on the front row with Brazilian Felipe Massa qualifying third for Ferrari.
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.
Starting his transition to NASCAR stock car racing, 2007 Formula One world champion Kimi Raikkonen completed a two-day test of a Toyota Tundra truck on Tuesday.
Finland's Kimi Raikkonen won the French Grand Prix on Sunday, leading Brazilian team mate Felipe Massa in a Ferrari one-two to end McLaren's winning streak.
Finland's Kimi Raikkonen won an accident-strewn and thrilling Abu Dhabi Formula One Grand Prix for Lotus on Sunday.
The 'Iceman' seemed as unflappable as ever at the prospect of stepping into the shoes of Michael Schumacher.
Kimi Raikkonen will take a year out of Formula One after failing to reach a deal with McLaren for next season the 2007 world champion's manager was quoted as saying on Wednesday.
Kimi Raikkonen rolled back the years with the fastest lap for Lotus on the first day of Formula One testing on Tuesday.
Kimi Raikkonen has said he will return to Formula One next season fully motivated and with his passion for the sport undimmed after two years away.
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 team principal Maurizio Arrivabene welcomed back the Kimi Raikkonen of old on Sunday.
The Formula One supremo is backing Kimi Raikkonen to beat Michael Schumacher this year.
Kimi Raikkonen would rather finish fourth in the Formula One world championship than end up second or third because then he can skip the official prize-giving gala in December.
Formula One's first pre-season test ended in Jerez with Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen fastest.
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