Ferrari has defended world champion Kimi Raikkonen after the Finn fell to third in the Formula One race as teammate Felipe Massa closed on leader Lewis
Hamilton with a superb win in Valencia.
''It's easy to attack him but it was the team who let him down,'' team chief Stefano Domenicali said Monday, confirming worries over reliability after
two straight engine failures - one depriving Massa of victory in Hungary on August 3 and one knocking Raikkonen out in Valencia when he was sixth.
''Our priority is to regain reliability, or else it's going to be hard to vie with rivals (McLaren) who always get both cars to the finishing line,''
Domenicali said.
Domenicali admitted that the situation was ''hard'' but recalled that ''it was harder last year when Kimi made up 17 points in the last two races and
won the championship''.
Hamilton came in second in Valencia and is now six points ahead of Massa on 70 points.
Raikkonen is 13 points adrift on 57 and has been heavily criticised for failing to claim top slots in qualifying and looking a ''shadow of himself'' in
races, as Monday's La Gazzetta dello Sport put it.
The Finn hasn't won in eight races but Domenicali insisted: ''We're talking about the world champion and he'll be the first to know how to react''.
''He will react.''
However, the team chief added that Ferrari would help Raikkonen ''with dialogue and work''.
As for Massa, Domenicali said the Brazilian ''reacted magnificently'' to his disappointment in the Hungarian Grand Prix where engine failure stripped
him of near-certain victory three laps from the end.
''Felipe's race was stratospheric, extraordinary, a photocopy of the Budapest race which failed to give him his rightful win''.
Domenicali promised Ferrari fans that the remaining six races would see a ''super-aggressive'' team which will ''compete right up to the end''.
Dismissing press speculation that Massa had now been unofficially anointed No.1 driver, Domenicali stressed Ferrari was banking on both pilots.
The next race is the Belgian Grand Prix on September 7, followed by the Italian Grand Prix a week later.
Singapore comes on September 28, Japan on October 12, China on October 19 and Brazil on November 2.
