Raikkonen Aims to Put French Disappointment Behind

McLaren driver Kimi Raikkonen is aiming to leave his French Grand Prix disappointment behind him this weekend in Germany.

The young Finn looked set to score his maiden Grand Prix win at Magny-Cours last Sunday when, with five laps remaining, he slid wide after running over spilt oil and was overtaken by Ferrari's Michael Schumacher, who went on to win the race and clinch his fifth title.

Raikkonen said the race was already a thing of the past and is hoping to put the disappointment behind him with another point-scoring finish in Sunday's race.

"I don't know how I'm going to take my revenge," said the Finn at Thursday's press conference for the German Grand Prix. "What happened is still a bit disappointing really, but it's passed now and I just have to forget those things and try to do a good race here."

McLaren, currently in third place in the Constructors' Championship, have managed to raise their game in the last couple of races, getting closer to their Williams rivals in the standings.

Raikkonen says he is optimistic McLaren will be able to keep up their improve pace at the revised Hockenheim this weekend.

"I hope so, and the whole team hopes so but this is difficult here because it's different circuit to Magny-Cours and we know that we have a better engine for qualifying but, of course, we weren't expecting to be so strong in the race," he added.

"I hope that we can keep it up and perhaps even improve more during the rest of the season and score more valuable points. It's so difficult to say how we are going to be as quick here as in the last race, but I guess we're going to see tomorrow."