Raikkonen realistic for German GP

The Maranello-based outfit has failed to match the pace of the leading teams in the first half of the season and has scored just one podium finish in eight races.

Despite Felipe Massa finishing in a promising fourth in the previous race in Britain, Raikkonen is aware that fighting on top this weekend is not a possibility.

"Realistically this year our objective can't be a win," Raikkonen said. "We still have to make up ground compared to the leaders as far as the performance is concerned. That's why the team continued to work very hard over the last weeks to bring some new solutions to this race.

"The track should be better for the F60's characteristics than Silverstone, but we'll get a clearer picture during Friday's free practice sessions. To be competitive you need a car with good traction, which is very stable while braking.

"It's always difficult making predictions and promising something to the fans, but for us today a place on the podium is already a good result, considering that we've been there just once this year."

The former world champion insists, however, that Ferrari will continue to push until the end of the season to try and score a good result.

"There are still nine races until the end of this extremely difficult season for us," he said.

"Our objective has to be to give it our all race after race, without thinking that the leaders are so many points ahead of us. I really trust the team's work and its capacity to close the gap between us and the leaders."