Raikkonen vows to fight until the end

Raikkonen is now 17 points behind Hamilton following last weekend's Japanese Grand Prix, won by the McLaren driver and where his Ferrari rival finished in third place.

Raikkonen will need to win this weekend's race in China, with Hamilton in sixth, if he wants to keep his hopes alive. The Finn can also finish in second with Hamilton in eighth to go into the final race in Brazil with any option of taking the title.

Despite his slim chances, Raikkonen is vowing to fight until the end.

"We went to Japan in quite a difficult point situation. Now we have to deal with what happened there and, for sure, now it looks much worse. But there is nothing we can do for it anymore," Raikkonen wrote on his website.

"Obviously we have just a little hope for the championship. But it is better to have a slight hope than no hope at all. We will not give up. No way. We are fighters and we will prove it again.

"Now we do our best to win these last two races. It is up to the others how we finish in the championship.

"It looks like Hamilton has wrapped it up, but we will not give up. At least we will try to make it more difficult for them by winning these last two races."