Gamble Costs Raikkonen Second Place

Finn Kimi Raikkonen claimed on Sunday that he lost out on second place in the Chinese Grand Prix when his McLaren-Mercedes team took a tactical gamble in a bid to claim the win.

Raikkonen pushed hard to catch eventual race winner Rubens Barrichello, of Ferrari, in the first two stints but dropped behind BAR-Honda rival Jenson Button after his final pit stop.

"The car was pretty good all the way though the race but we did a little risk because I was always stuck behind Rubens and tried in the middle to drive past him," said Raikkonen. "We did quite a short fill on the second stop but it didn't pay off but we are here to try to win the races and not to finish second so I am not too disappointed really right now."

Raikkonen has only finished two of the last five races but the last one he completed saw him standing on the top step of the podium after beating World Champion Michael Schumacher to victory in Belgium in August.

The new MP4-19B machine, introduced at the French Grand Prix in July, has proved to be on the pace when it finishes a race and Raikkonen praised his team for producing such a mid-season turnaround.

"I was quite happy with the car all the way through and I think the whole package was good," said Raikkonen. "I did all I could but I wasn't able to get close enough. The problem is if you don't get close enough you cannot even try to overtake and I was just a little bit too far away. I didn't have the speed on the back straight, so I was not able even to try to overtake.

"With the last set of tyres at the beginning I was struggling but in the end they came good again and at the end of the race it got quicker and quicker all the time so I was able to catch up with the others but it was a bit too late."