Raikkonen Curses Weather but Keeps Faith

Kimi Raikkonen all but admitted his hopes of clinching this year's World Championship are over after trailing home second behind victorious Michael Schumacher in the United States Grand Prix at Indianapolis on Sunday.

Finn Raikkonen lead from the start in his McLaren-Mercedes but came unstuck when fate and the weather intervened to throw the race into confusion with on-off rain before the halfway mark. Raikkonen is now nine points behind Ferrari driver Schumacher with ten available and needs to win the season-ending Japanese Grand Prix to have any chance of claiming the title.

"We lost the race because we were unlucky with the weather but what can you do? That's life," said a despondent Raikkonen. "I was fighting as much as I could and we only got second. Of course, it is not the best because Michael won and we came second for the Championship.

"It has made it a lot more difficult but at least we are still in the Championship and maybe it can happen."

Raikkonen was passed by Schumacher in the wet conditions and later admitted that his rival's Bridgestone tyres were ahead of his Michelins in the slippery and damp conditions.

"When it is a bit wet and you can run with slicks we seem to be much stronger," said Raikkonen. "If it's heavy rain I think we are still in good shape. But between those two our tyres are not working as well as the Bridgestones."