Raikkonen Laments Costly Error

The Finn believed he had the pace to finish on top, but a mistake at the start of his flying lap cost him a lot of time and he had to be content with third position behind Jarno Trulli and Fernando Alonso.

"I am a bit disappointed because I ran wide on corner two and lost time, half a second," said Raikkonen. "The car has to be quick, I am just not happy.

"We should have been first but we are very close to the two top guys and it is good for tomorrow."

Raikkonen, who retired from the San Marino Grand Prix while leading, admitted he needs to score points in Spain if he wants to have a chance of fighting for the title.

"The car has been working very well all weekend so I was quite confident," he said. "We still need to finish the races. It doesn't help if you put it on pole if you don't finish the race and that is the area we have to improve. The main thing is to score points.

"We desperately need more points than the others to get back in the Championship. Everyone is working hard, we have improved the car and we can get new parts for the next races."