Kimi admits he needed some luck

by Essential Sports

Updated: August 4, 2008, 4:58 PM EST 15 comments

The Finnish driver started in 6th place on the grid and looked set for another tough day at the office but in the end the result has kept the defending Champion very much in the title race. Raikkonen now sits in 3rd place in the Championship race, just five points behind McLaren's Lewis Hamilton.

The start of the race was also not what the Ferrari man would have hoped. Overtaken by rival Fernando Alonso, Raikkonen had to wait until the Renault driver pitted for his second stop to find the clean air he needed to ensure he would reclaim the place he had lost off the start.

Following Felipe Massa's blown engine and pole sitter Hamilton's puncture Raikkonen found himself in a podium position again and closing in on Timo Glock who was sitting in 2nd place. Having seen Massa's engine give in the instructions soon came from the pit wall not to push the car and 29 year-old coasted in for his 54th top three finish.

"We could have managed to do the race a little better, and I was stuck behind Alonso all the way to the second stop," said Raikkonen.

"I'm a little bit lucky with other people going all over the place.

"We have the speed in the race, but if I can't get qualifying right then we will always end up like this.

"We just need to sort out the problems and then we will be fighting for wins."

It is notoriously difficult to pass in Hungry and despite possessing superior power and speed Raikkonen conceded that it was the right option not to attempt a pass on Glock in the closing laps of the race as it may well have backfired on the Italian team.

"It is very difficult to get past, you need something special in one corner.

"Unfortunately I could not pass him. Third place in the end, after a difficult weekend for me, was a good result."