Raikkonen disappointed to miss podium

The British team were never truly in the reckoning in their 600th Grand Prix start despite Raikkonen overcoming his German jinx to secure a close fourth place in Felipe Massa's slipstream.

Raikkonen believes the team had made a step forward since the San Marino Grand Prix and is hoping for more in Spain next week.

"Despite giving my all throughout the race it was not enough to get a podium," said Raikkonen. "The overall performance of the car was not as I would have liked, however we are closer to the lead and there is a definite improvement from the last race.

"We now have to continue our hard work so that we can perform better at the next Grand Prix in Barcelona."

Juan Pablo Montoya endured a disappointing day, struggling to match the pace of his teammate and then going out with an engine failure while running eighth.

"Not a great afternoon for me really," said Montoya. "I didn't get the best start and lost quite a few places in the scrum at the first corner.

"After that it seemed that I was always stuck in traffic at points in the race where I really needed clean air to make any inroads if I was to benefit from the heavier fuel load I was carrying compared to my nearest competition.

"Unfortunately I had an engine failure six laps from the end of the race, which prevented me from scoring the final point."