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Second places not enough - Raikkonen

ESPN Staff
August 16, 2013 « Sirotkin to start Sauber programme | Lotus 'confident of making another step forward' »
Kimi Raikkonen has finished second on five occasions this year © Sutton Images
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Kimi Raikkonen says second places will not be enough for him to close the gap to Sebastian Vettel in the drivers' championship.

With Lewis Hamilton winning the Hungarian Grand Prix before the mid-season break, Raikkonen finished second ahead of Vettel but only managed to close the gap in the standings by three points. Ahead of returning to racing next weekend at Spa, Raikkonen said he would need victories to close the 38-point deficit by the end of the season.

"I am now back in second which was a good way to enter the summer break," Raikkonen said. "I finished ahead of Seb [Vettel] in Hungary so obviously scored more points than him there. To beat him, we need to be winning races and if we keep finishing second like we've done many times this year it's probably not going to be enough for the championship, but you never know what might happen."

Raikkonen added that his main focus has to be to improve his qualifying performances in order to give himself a better chance of victory.

"Obviously I keep making my life difficult on Saturdays in qualifying so then we pay a price, but we still have a good car in the race. Now we have tyres that are a little bit different we have to understand exactly how to use them. We made progress in Budapest so it should be easier in Spa, but that will be the same for everyone. To win, it's always better to be starting near the front."

© ESPN Sports Media Ltd.
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