After what he claims was his fourth problem-afflicted grand prix weekend out of five so far in 2008 in Turkey, Kimi Raikkonen is looking to have a more straightforward outing in Monaco – a circuit where Ferrari struggled this time last year.

The Finn finished third in Istanbul last weekend, having never really looked on the leading pace of team-mate Felipe Massa throughout. That reduced his advantage in the drivers' title chase to seven points over Massa and McLaren-Mercedes' Lewis Hamilton, who pipped him to the chequered flag in Turkey by a mere half a second.

“I like to play golf,” Raikkonen reflected, “and after the Turkish Grand Prix I had the same feeling like having a bogey. I came to Istanbul leading by nine points and now I'm seven ahead. Not much changed.

“I had a really difficult weekend. It started with a problem – when something was wrong with the gear shifting in the first session of free practice – and went on with another. Fortunately in the end I did not finish too badly.

“I wanted to fight for a win, but that's racing. Sometimes it just goes wrong from the very beginning of the weekend, so you concentrate on saving as much as you can, just like I did in Turkey. I can't be too disappointed about third spot, considering what happened at the start [when he came together with Heikki Kovalainen in the first corner].

“Afterwards it's always easy to say what we could have done, but I never do that and this case is closed.”

Looking ahead now, the 28-year-old is evidently keen to enjoy a more competitive showing around the tortuous streets of the Principality in just over a week's time, after he crashed in qualifying last year – leaving him down in 16th on the starting grid – and could only scrape eighth place in the race, on a weekend when the scarlet machines were fairly blown into the weeds by the Silver Arrows. He is hoping for better fortunes this time around, and has already had a taste of victory champagne in the race referred to as the jewel in Formula 1's crown when he triumphed there for McLaren in 2005.

“So far the only the weekend in Barcelona was without any problems,” Raikkonen mused of his 2008 campaign to-date. “I hope that the next one will be at Monte Carlo. I think we have a very competitive car and the team is very motivated to try to be strong on a track where we were not competitive last year.”