Kimi hits out at McLaren

He vows to do anything to help team-mate Massa win the championship

SHANGHAI: Defending world champion Kimi Raikkonen crtiticised McLaren for ruining his chance to win in Japan last week and vowed to go all out for a Ferrari one-two in China on Sunday.

The Finn is adamant that he could have won at Fuji had it not been for the first corner fracas that saw both Ferraris, and Heikki Kovalainen’s McLaren, forced wide by Lewis Hamilton’s ambitious attempt to wrest back the lead.

It effectively cost Raikkonen any chance he had of retaining his world title with a top two result needed to stay in the hunt. He finally finished third. “I was ahead of the rest, just like we had planned. And when you turn into the first corner in front of everybody else, you should be there also when you come out of it,” said the Finn. 

“They braked so late that it was impossible to avoid the following chaos. “It was an unexplainable mistake by the two cars from McLaren, who actually expelled me from the fight for victory at the Japanese GP. ”   

Raikkonen said it was disheartening to give up the world title and said he would do all he could to help teammate Felipe Massa, five points adrift of Hamilton, overtake the Briton in the championship race.

“It’s true Sunday’s result was a ‘sayonara’ to the drivers’ title although I knew since Spa that there wasn’t much hope left,” he said. “Since January I tell you that I gave it my best to win the title again. ”

“Now we’re going to China. Let’s see what we can do there. Shanghai is a very demanding track and I really like it. I’ll give it all to help Felipe and the team to gain the results we want.”