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Raikkonen confident of more victories

ESPN Staff
July 22, 2013 « Kobayashi hoping for swift F1 return | Sirotkin unable to postpone F1 chance »
Kimi Raikkonen was a close second to Sebastian Vettel in Germany © Associated Press
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Kimi Raikkonen is confident he will win more races this season if Lotus continues the form it showed in Germany.

Having endured a run of poor results, Raikkonen recovered to finish second in the German Grand Prix as he closed down and put pressure on Sebastian Vettel in the closing laps at the Nurburgring. Despite his only win coming in the season-opening Australian Grand Prix, Raikkonen is confident Lotus has the capacity to win more races this year.

"Obviously we are here to try and win races," Raikkonen said. "We couldn't in Germany because we were not fast enough, but for the team it was a good result after a couple of quite difficult races. We lost some more points to the lead as Seb won, but it's still a long season and if we keep putting ourselves in a position to at least be fighting for first place then I think we can do it again."

Raikkonen has won once and been second four times at the Hungaroring and says Lotus will have to get qualifying right to be successful this weekend.

"I have finished second in Hungary too many times, so I know how important it is to lead the race after the first corner. DRS or not, it's never easy to overtake at the Hungaroring. To get the weekend right, you have to have good sessions in FP1, FP2 and FP3, then a strong qualifying session and finally a perfect start to the race.

"Obviously you need to get to the front in the qualifying, but also avoid the dirty side of the track on the grid. When you look back through the races this season, it seems the dirty side of the track is a real disadvantage in the starts."

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