Categories: F1 News, Reports and Race ResultsFerrari

Ferrari will keep fighting - Raikkonen

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Kimi Raikkonen promises Ferrari will keep fighting after a disappointing qualifying for the Belgian Grand Prix.

Having been Mercedes' nearest challengers at the majority of races so far this season, Ferrari endured a difficult qualifying session at Spa-Francorchamps as Raikkonen stopped with a loss of oil pressure during Q2. Sebastian Vettel could only qualify ninth - though Romain Grosjean's grid penalty will see Vettel start eighth - but Raikkonen says Ferrari can fight back.

"The Mercedes-engined cars are pretty strong here but our car is handling pretty nicely all weekend so it was bad timing for the issue, but it is what it is," Raikkonen said. "My position could have been a bit better but we’ll keep fighting and try to do the best we can and see where we end up."

And Raikkonen says he is happy with the balance of his car having worked on it on Friday.

"Yesterday we had been trying few different things and I think we had made the right choices for today. Obviously we know we have to improve in all areas. My starting position will make my race very tricky but I hope that the race condition will turn in our favour."

Click here for Saturday's Belgian Grand Prix gallery at Spa-Francorchamps

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Andrew Lewin

Andrew first became a fan of Formula 1 during the time when Michael Schumacher and Damon Hill were stepping into the limelight after the era of Alain Prost, Nigel Mansell and Aryton Senna. He's been addicted ever since, and has been writing about the sport now for nearly a quarter of a century for a number of online news sites. He's also written professionally about GP2 (now Formula 2), GP3, IndyCar, World Rally Championship, MotoGP and NASCAR. In his other professional life, Andrew is a freelance writer, social media consultant, web developer/programmer, and digital specialist in the fields of accessibility, usability, IA, online communities and public sector procurement. He worked for many years in magazine production at Bauer Media, and for over a decade he was part of the digital media team at the UK government's communications department. Born and raised in Essex, Andrew currently lives and works in south-west London.