Iceman defiant despite setback

Maranello (Italy), Aug. 27: Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen hit back at critics who have questioned his motivation following his latest world championship setback at the European Grand Prix last weekend.

While teammate Felipe Massa cantered to victory ahead of McLaren’s world championship leader Lewis Hamilton, the Finn dropped to third overall and 13 points off the Briton in the standings after retiring with engine failure.

It has been a difficult season for the reigning champion with retirements in the Canadian and European GPs, a finish out of the points in Monaco, a lowly eighth in Australia and with podium finishes in only half the races.

He has only managed to start on the front row of the grid in four out of 12 races while he’s been on the third row in two of the last three. "What’s happened has happened, there’s no use crying about it," he said ahead of next weekend’s Belgian GP.

"We’ll go there next weekend. I love that circuit, I’d love to race there all year long. "It’s the best of them all and I hope to have a good car there. I’ll do my best to win there once again. If anyone doubts my motivation they can be sure of this: I want to win, now more than ever."

Raikkonen has already won three times at Spa, twice for McLaren and then again last year with Ferrari. However, he has had problems on the four street circuits on this season’s calender and has also struggled badly in qualifying, claiming a front row position in only a third of the races.

— AFP

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Kenyon expects to get Robinho

London, Aug. 27: Chelsea chief executive Peter Kenyon dropped a hint that Robinho’s transfer to Stamford Bridge is close to completion after admitting the Real Madrid winger will give the team an added dimension.

Luiz Felipe Scolari is keen to tie up a 27 million pounds (33.7 million euros) swoop for Robinho before the transfer window shuts on Monday and reports have claimed the deal will go through before the weekend.

Real have been haggling over the transfer fee for the Brazilian but Kenyon is confident Chelsea manager Scolari will get his man.

"Scolari identified two targets when we appointed him as manager. One was Deco and the other was Robinho," Kenyon told Sky Sports. — AFP