The Finn made a storming...

The Finn made a storming start to become the first man to pass Lewis Hamilton in a grand prix. He then made up time on early race leader Felipe Massa and overtook him at the second pitstops. Afterwards, Raikkonen admitted he had been having trouble adjusting following his move from McLaren at the end of last season.

He said: “I expected to have a bit of a difficult time. But people always think you’ve lost it when you don’t have a good result. We just worked hard and tried to get it right.

“I think we can still improve and we’re still not where we want to be, but we are much happier with the car since the most recent test. In the last races, we just couldn’t get it together. I think we knew what our problems were. But it looks like the work is starting to pay off now. Maybe it just took longer than we expected.”

Team-mate Massa qualified on pole and led the early part of the race, but claimed losing time lapping backmarkers ruined things for him. “It was the two Red Bulls, one Toyota, which was more difficult, and a Williams. It was a big fight from them,” he said. “When you stay behind a car you’re lapping for more than three laps, it’s not normal.”

But championship leader Lewis Hamilton, who finished third, warned McLaren will hit back at the British GP. He said: “I think we will be competitive there. I know the team is working hard at the factory, and when we go to the next race we will be even quicker. As long as our reliability continues, I don’t see why we won’t be able to fight for the win. I am looking forward to Silverstone. It will be a good weekend.”