Raikkonen vows to fight until the end

The Finn's already slim chances suffered a blow last Sunday at Monza, where he finished third behind both McLaren drivers Fernando Alonso and Lewis Hamilton.

Raikkonen, who was in pain during most of the race following a heavy crash on Saturday, is now 18 points behind Hamilton with only four races to go, meaning the Ferrari driver is likely to need his rivals to retire in some of the remaining races.

The Finn, however, has promised to continue fighting as long as the championship is within reach.

"We will fight as long as arithmetic allows us to," said Raikkonen. "We can't leave anything undone. We had a good test at Spa-Francorchamps last July and I'm 100 percent fit in terms of physical fitness: after the race I took some painkillers and I relaxed a bit.

"The next one is my preferred circuit. It's a wonderful place I always loved to race there and I like the latest modifications of the track. There are some very fast and challenging corners, where we could exploit some of the qualities of the F2007.

"We'll give it everything to win: I've been twice on the central step of the podium here at the last two races and I want to get back there next Sunday."

Raikkonen endured a difficult weekend in his first race as a Ferrari driver at Monza following his crash during practice.

He struggled with his neck during the race, and the Finn admitted it had been the most painful race he had ever been in.

"I still don't know what exactly happened. I arrived at the Ascari and I braked, when I was just below 300 km/h: the wheels blocked right on a kerb and the back of he car suddenly lost all its downforce, so that the car had a very hard swerve and I ended up against the wall to my right.

"There was absolutely nothing I could have done but waiting for the impact to happen. The telemetry didn't give any hint on an error or damage, just like the analysis of the car in Maranello, as the technicians told me. The impact was very hard, but the consequences, as often happens in these kind of accidents, I could only feel the next day; and unfortunately it was the day of the race.

"My neck really hurt: we did everything we could to put me back in shape, but there was not enough time left. This was undeniably the most painful race I've ever had. It's really difficult to drive when you can't hold your head up: when I was breaking I had trouble to see the corners correctly. After a couple of days everything would have been fine."