Raikkonen expects Ferrari to dominate

The Finn triumped in last year's race at Silverstone and, although seeing a win slip through his fingers at Magny-Cours on Sunday thanks to a broken exhaust, he is simply happy that his car's performance looks so promising for next weekend's event.

"We expect to be really competitive at Silverstone," he wrote on the Ferrari website. "This week all the teams will test there ahead of the British GP: I'll drive on Thursday after Felipe has tested two days. I like the track and I have fond memories of it: it's good to come here with a car that can fight for the win."

Although Raikkonen was disappointed to not claim victory in France, he says now that he is happy because the points he scored were vital for his championship ambitions.

"I have to admit it has never been better to see the chequered flag," said Raikkonen. "Once again we proved you should never give up.

"The team still don't know exactly what happened. They will do some tests, but it's difficult to find an answer without the exhaust pipe and with an engine that has been under stress like that for half of the race.

"Obviously I'm sorry that I didn't win a race where everything went well in the beginning. We have to look at the positive aspects: the team did great work and I gained eight points, although I had a problem, which could have made me retire. And now I'm closer to the top than I was after Canada.

"It's a hard championship with four drivers close together. We're not even half way through the season and there are still loads of points to gain. Last year at this point I was 20 points behind."