Raikkonen Aiming to End Negative Streak

Finn Kimi Raikkonen is hoping to score some points at Sunday's Canadian Grand Prix to finally end a streak of six consecutive retirements.

The McLaren driver has only seen the chequered flag once this year, when he finished in third place at the season opening Australian Grand Prix. Five mechanical failures and a shunt with Ferrari's Rubens Barrichello in Monaco two weeks ago have stopped the young Finn from adding more points to his tally.

After setting a promising fifth quickest time in today's qualifying, Raikkonen is looking forward to make it to the end of the race and score some points.

"I think my grid position was the best we could have achieved today," said Raikkonen. "We always knew that Canada would be difficult, as the circuit layout is not suited to our package.

"I might have been able to improve my time a little in my last run but then the rain just made it a bit too slippery. I'm hoping for a good start tomorrow and then a race finish and hopefully a reasonable result."

Monaco Grand Prix winner David Coulthard was brought back to reality today, as the Scot struggled again with his Mercedes-powered McLaren. Coulthard is hoping for a better result in the race after finishing in a disappointing eighth position today.

"I had a horrible session and believe that without problems I could have been on the third row at least," he said. "During my first run I hit traffic and lost a bit of time, my second stint was affected by the yellow flags following Sato's incident and then it started to rain during my final qualifying lap which caused me to spin at the last corner.

"I think we are capable of making a good start, which will be important, as overtaking is very hard at this track. As always we will do our best."