F1 - Raikkonen: Ferrari as strong as ever

Kimi Raikkonen has dismissed suggestions that Ferrari have lost ground, in performance terms, to McLaren in recent races and claims that all he needs is a trouble-free weekend.

The world champion, who shares the lead in the drivers' table with his teammate Felipe Massa and McLaren's Lewis Hamilton, finished fourth at Silverstone in the rain last weekend after an error-strewn race.

But Raikkonen, who missed out on a chance of victory when the team decided to keep him on old intermediate tyres at a crucial stage of the race, believes that Ferrari have lost none of their competitive edge.

"For sure McLaren will be fast," Raikkonen said during testing in Hockenheim. "But I think we have a good package and we haven't lost any speed, we just need to have a good weekend.

"Of course we are not so happy with the results we have got. But we got back in the joint lead of the championship, and probably we should have got more points but we made a mistake and it happens in racing.

"It's not the first time and it's not, unfortunately, going to be the last time, so it's just part of the game and we need to learn from it."

Ferrari dominated the French Grand Prix at Magny-Cours last month, but the McLaren appeared to be the quicker car at Silverstone, against expectations.

But Raikkonen is convinced that Ferrari will come out fighting in Germany, and warned that they will not let up on development in their fight for the championships.

"We have a strong team and we are pushing forward hard," he said. "Okay people always expect us to win every race, but this is not so easy. For sure we are going to start winning again soon and we just keep working hard.

"It is too early to say [how we compare] against the others [in Germany], but the feeling with the car is pretty good and that is always a nice sign. We need to wait until the race to see really what will happen. But I am quite happy."

Autosport