No reason to worry - Raikkonen

Disappointment has been the dominant feeling for Kimi Raikkonen these past couple of days, but looking back is not his style. "I am not the type to go over what has happened and I'm not about to start now," said the Finnish driver.

"This is part of racing and it's impossible to change what has happened. Retiring from a race is the worst part of our sport and it makes you feel the worst. Points have been lost and there's no going back." Scoring no points was definitely not part of the plan for the weekend.

"Suddenly on lap 9, I lost all the electrics on the car and there was nothing I could do but come back to the pits. I was third and, with the strategy we had chosen, I think I could have had a good race. It is difficult following someone, but I think I could have passed Hamilton in the run of pit stops, but we will never know now how it might have finished up. In qualifying, my speed through the first two sectors was great but, by the end of the lap I was losing a bit of grip. We still need to fine tune the set up a bit to get things right."

Very disappointed, Raikkonen left Montmelo before the race had finshed: "I asked the team if I could go quickly and I'm pleased they saw that giving me permission was the right thing to do. I arrived home in Wollerau in time to see the final stages of the ice hockey world championship final, but Finland lost to Canada. Obviously, this just wasn't a good day!" However, the Ferrari driver does not feel that failing to finish has had compromised the situation in the championship. "There are still thirteen races to go and I am only eight points down on the leader. Of course I would like to be at the top of the classification but as I have often said, there is still no reason to worry about it yet. The true effect of this retirement will only be known at the end of the season. I am very happy for Felipe who drove a fantastic race, managing the situation in fine style after the start. I am happy for him and for the team, even if we were unable to get the best possible result."

After a short break, Kimi will be back on track at Le Castellet on Thursday. "I will test for two days after Felipe has had his turn and we will work on trying to adapt the car as much as possible to my driving style, while also trying new components for the forthcoming races. Then it will be time for Monaco. It's one of my favourite tracks because I really like street circuits, so I'm pleased to see there will soon be more of them on the calendar. I can't wait to race through the streets of the Principality and of course, in the hope of repeating my result from two years ago."