Raikkonen admits good result needed

The Finn has not won since the Spanish Grand Prix in April and, with teammate Felipe Massa fast emerging as Lewis Hamilton's main threat for the championship, talk has already turned to the role Raikkonen may have to play in supporting the Brazilian.

And, on the back of his engine failure in Valencia, Raikkonen is under no illusions that he must score well at Spa-Francorchamps if he is to recover the ground he has lost in the title chase.

"We're on the eve of one of the race weekends I really like," he wrote on Ferrari's official website. "The Belgian GP is one of the highlights of the season and I usually obtain a good result at Spa. I need it more than ever after the results of the last races."

Raikkonen has said that he is not worried by the criticism he has faced in recent weeks, amid questions about his motivation levels, and says he and the team are determined to work as hard as possible to repeat their title success.

"It's a shame to be involved in many negative stories, but these things happen: it wasn't for the first time and it might not have been the last in my career," he said. "You just have to know how to cope with these situations.

"When I was in school it was never nice to get back home with a bad mark. The only thing you could do was working harder for the next time. Today the only thing I can do is to react to this negative situation."

Raikkonen again believes that the qualifying form of the F2008 is the key area where improvements are needed, and he is optimistic that some progress was made in last week's Monza test.

"The tests went really well: we tested some new solutions and the overall package seems to have improved. Having said that, we only know how it will look on the track at the qualifying at Spa, because you never know how much fuel everybody has on board during the tests. I think that it will be a fierce fight; one test might not be enough to change the season's overall trend."

And Raikkonen is adamant that his championship hopes are not over yet.

"Obviously it would be fantastic to win it for the fourth time in a row: considering that I haven't won a race in several months, a success would help me to get back in the race for the title after the disappointment at Valencia.

"Last year we managed to find a good set up for the car during the second part of the season and we won several races. We have to do the same now, because we have to close the gap in the standings. It's not impossible: 13 points are a lot, but last year I was 17 points behind the leader, with two races to go."