SHANGHAI: Kimi Raikkonen said Sunday he is focusing on the drivers' championship showdown in Brazil later this month after claiming his fifth win of the season and Ferrari's 200th Grand Prix victory.
McLaren's Lewis Hamilton had looked set to take the title in Sunday's Chinese Grand Prix, but his retirement opened the door for either Raikkonen or Fernando Alonso to complete a heroic comeback at the final race of the season in Sao Paulo.
Raikkonen had just overtaken Hamilton when the British rookie championship leader lost grip and careened into a gravel trap.
The Finn went on to complete a reasonably comfortable victory and is now seven points off Hamilton and three points back from Alonso who was second in Shanghai.
"I am very happy," Raikkonen said in a post-race media briefing. "It is a really great result for me and the whole team, who have done a truly excellent job."
"We needed this win and we got it. At the start of the race, I had a lot of understeer, but then the situation improved."
"I knew Alonso was very quick but I was in full control of the situation. The car overall was working well both in the wet and in the dry. Last week in Fuji, we were unlucky but today things went right for us."
Even if Raikkonen wins in Brazil, Hamilton would only need fifth place to finish above him.
But whilst the Ferrari man admitted his chances are slim, he vowed to go all out for victory.
"We have had yet another example today that in this sport anything can happen," he added.
"The situation in the drivers' classification is still difficult, but I will try everything to win in Brazil, even if the final outcome does not just depend on what we do."
"It should be a great battle, very hard to predict and interesting." Brazilian Felipe Massa finished third in the other Ferrari and was left lamenting the rain showers that plagued the race throughout.
"I had hoped to be fighting for the win, but the race was affected by the changing weather conditions," he said.
"At the moment I switched to dry tyres, the timing was not ideal. The rain came back immediately and it was really difficult to stay on track."
"All in all, finishing on the podium in a race like this is very important and I am very happy for the team. There is one race to go: anything can happen and we must continue to work to stay ahead of our rivals."
