Formula 1 world champion Kimi Raikkonen knows he has little if any chance of retaining his title and will work to try and make sure his Ferrari teammate Felipe Massa wins it and that the Scuderia clinches the constructors championships for the second year running.
At a press conference Thursday ahead of this weekend's Japanese Grand Prix, Raikkonen said ''for myself it's more or less over, but we'll do the best job we can for the team and try again next year''.
Ferrari, he observed, ''wants to win both championships and I know what they expect of me. Felipe needs to win the race for himself and I can probably help in some way but it's not easy to say exactly how things are going to work out. He needs to get himself in front first.
On the chances of a one-two finish on Sunday, Raikkonen said ''we have a good car and a good team and, as long as we do everything right, I don't see why this should not be possible''.
The Ferrari driver, who came in third in Japan last year, added that ''we still don't know what the weather will be like. Last year the rain made things difficult, especially in regard to visibility''.
Massa also met the press and was confident he had a chance of winning the Formula 1 title despite the seven-point advantage McLaren's Lewis Hamilton has on him in the standings with three races to go in the season.
''Although we are seven points behind there are still 30 points up for grabs. We're going to do the best we can right up to the last lap of the last race. I think we still have a big chance and we certainly won't give up,'' Massa said.
''We just have to wait and see what happens at the end of the season - whoever has done the best job or whoever has had the most luck, it doesn't matter. All that matters is who has the most points.''
''And whether we win or lose we will do it as a team. And that same rule applied to what happened in Singapore,'' he added.
Ferrari had a disastrous race in the Singapore Grand Prix two weeks ago. A foul up during his pit stop resulted in Massa driving off with the fuel nozzle still attached to his car, forcing him to lose time, while Raikkonen crashed.
Because of the pit stop mishap, Ferrari has abandoned its sophisticated electronic timing system and on Sunday will go back to using the 'lollypop' to tell the driver when his stop is finished.
