Kimi thinks points are out of reach

Kimi Raikkonen says he will need a lucky break from a safety car period or the weather to score any points in the Singapore Grand Prix.

Ferrari has been off the pace all weekend and Raikkonen could only qualify a lowly 13th, his worst grid spot since the Spanish Grand Prix in May.

“Unfortunately, today we were just not quick enough to get into Q3 and there was not much we could do about it,” he said.

“It’s difficult to overtake here, and we’re not suddenly going to be fast, so getting into the points will be very difficult.

“It’s true that anything can happen on a track like this and we will have to do our best to make the most of every opportunity.

“Hopefully we can be a bit lucky with the safety car or something.

“I guess that [rain] would give us a better chance, because this circuit probably will be very difficult in the wet conditions.”

Ferrari’s uncompetitiveness in Singapore was in marked contrast to its form at Spa just one month ago, where Raikkonen took the team’s only victory of the season so far.

The Finn attributed most of the drop-off to circuit characteristics, but also said the team would inevitably fall steadily behind its rivals as a result of its decision to stop developing the F60 and concentrate all its efforts on the 2010 car.

“For sure this is a more difficult circuit than the previous ones for our car,” he said.

“It’s much bumpier and unfortunately it’s not as good for us as maybe the last four.

“The problem is that everybody else is improving their cars and we are not, so it’s not going to get any easier in that way.

“We’re going to fall further [behind].”

Raikkonen qualified second and finished third on the Monaco street circuit earlier this year, but pointed out that Singapore “is not like Monaco, and Monaco was six months ago – the cars have changed a lot since then”.

The 2007 world champion said he understood the reasons for switching the team’s focus to the 2010 car despite the fact that Ferrari is trying to hold off a resurgent McLaren for third place in the constructors’ standings.

“We’re fighting for third place in the championship, but you want to fight for first place, so in that way we didn’t have anything to lose and I guess it’s the right choice,” he said.