Raikkonen reckons crash cost him second

The Finn lost the rear end of his Ferrari on lap 44 and ended up making contact with the wall.

He was forced to pit for the third time and lost any chance of a good result after dropping to 16th.

Raikkonen later retired with a differential problem.

"It was my mistake to hit the wall, it was just sudden but I spun. Looking afterwards we would probably have finished second, and it is a shame," said Raikkonen.

"I went as normal as always in the corner, and then suddenly I just completely lost the rear. Probably it was my mistake. I wouldn't put it to anything else, but it is funny how there was no warning.

"Usually you feel something if there is a bit of wheel spin but it just went and there was nothing I could do. I just tried to avoid the wall, but I couldn't."

He added: "It was a shame as we could probably have finished second in the end, but the speed on hard tyres - Kubica was pulling away a little bit, but then I think he did the fastest lap, so I haven't had time to see at all what the others were doing.

"For sure we still have work to do, but this circuit is not normal compared to other normal circuit we have seen. We have had a hard time here before and then it is okay when we go to normal circuits. Hopefully that will turn out to be the same this year."

Ferrari failed to score any points after Felipe Massa also retired from the race, dominated by the Brawn GP team, with Jenson Button leading team-mate Rubens Barrichello to a one-two finish.

Raikkonen reckons catching the British team will depend a lot on the outcome of the appeal lodged over the design of its diffuser.

"We will see how is it in the next race," said the Finn. "It all depends on the rules, what the rules are going to be in the future, there are a lot of question marks about what you are allowed to do and what not. So let's wait and see.