• Abu Dhabi Grand Prix

Lotus can still win this season - Raikkonen

Kimi Raikkonen extended his stay with Lotus until at least the end of 2013 this week © Press Association

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• Race:
• Abu Dhabi Grand Prix

• Drivers:
• Kimi Räikkönen

• Teams:
• Lotus F1

Kimi Raikkonen believes Lotus can still win a race this season despite Red Bull's recent dominance.

Having been close to victory in Bahrain, Barcelona and Hungary it appeared that Lotus' best chance to win in 2012 had gone after Sebastian Vettel won four races in a row while neither Raikkonen nor Romain Grosjean made the podium. However, Raikkonen believes he had one of the fastest cars in India but had hurt his ability to display it by making a set-up error for qualifying, and thinks with a bit of luck a victory can still be achieved.

"I really thought that I had the speed in the car last race and that's why I was very disappointed in my decision to change the car," Raikkonen said. "It probably didn't work out well for qualifying but in the race we had - on lap time - one of the fastest cars I think. That was on pure lap time but we put ourselves in a position that with our straight-line speed we're never going to get past people.

"So that's why it was more disappointing, but that's how it goes and I think if we can hopefully improve the car a bit here and get everything right and not make any mistakes in qualifying or other things, maybe with a little bit of luck as well, I don't see a reason why we still couldn't win the race. Of course it's not going to be easy and we probably need a bit of luck on our side, but we'll see."

Having ruled himself out of the title race in India, Raikkonen said he still retains some hope while it's mathematically possible; lying 67 points behind Vettel with three races left.

"I guess we still have a chance so we keep pushing, but it's very unlikely that they will not finish any races until the end of the year and we will win the races so I don't really see this happening but you never know. We're still going to try to do the best we can in all the races and score as many points as we can and hopefully get some podiums."

Raikkonen's future with Lotus for 2013 was confirmed earlier this week, and he said one-year contract extensions suit him best.

"It makes more easier for me and I don't see a reason why I should make a long-term contract you probably wouldn't make if you just want to make sure that you have somewhere to drive in the coming years. I try to do well enough so I don't have to worry when it comes down to signing and I will have somewhere to race. For me it's easier like that; if you want to go somewhere and do something else it's less hassle and less problems."

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