Raikkonen can add to McLaren's troubles

Kimi Raikkonen, third in the Formula One title race and chasing his third win in a row, returns to the Nuerburgring for Sunday's European Grand Prix with considerably more optimism than in previous years.

Raikkonen had a dismal record at the circuit with McLaren, the championship leaders who are embroiled in a damaging spy controversy with Ferrari, and their engine partners Mercedes.

Schumacher, the seven times world champion who retired last October, won there last year in one of many victories before his adoring home crowd.

"Something always happened to stop me from winning," Raikkonen said on his website (www.kimiraikkonen.com) of his German jinx.

"Hopefully, I can put that right this time with Ferrari," added the Finn, 18 points adrift of McLaren's 22-year-old rookie Lewis Hamilton at the halfway point of the season.

After beating McLaren at Silverstone, Raikkonen can now double his former team's pain by beating Mercedes in their backyard as well.

"It is exciting for me to be there with Ferrari," he said. "Somehow I have a feeling that Michael won there almost every time. Never mind what we did, at the end of the day the red car of Michael was there to take the chequered flag first."

McLaren, 25 points clear of Ferrari, already faced a difficult weekend even without their rivals' improved form.

While Hamilton will be chasing his 10th podium in a row, a feat only previously managed by Schumacher and Spain's Fernando Alonso, his best efforts could be undermined by the controversy that threatens his and the team's title hopes.

Paris hearing

Formula One's governing body have summoned McLaren to a hearing in Paris on the Thursday after the race to face charges of unauthorised possession of confidential Ferrari technical information.

If found guilty, they could be stripped of points or thrown out of the championship.

McLaren, who have suspended chief designer Mike Coughlan, are adamant that their car is untainted.

Hamilton and double world champion Alonso, a winner at the Nuerburgring with Renault in 2005 and 12 points behind his British team-mate, can only stay focused and hope for the best.

"I think I need to step up my game, which I intend to do," Hamilton said after finishing third at Silverstone from pole position.

European Grand Prix statistics

• Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen has won the last two races (France and Britain). The Finn, who took his career tally of victories to 12, has yet to win three grands prix in a row. The last Ferrari driver to win three races in a row was Raikkonen's predecessor, Michael Schumacher, in 2006.

• Ferrari have won 197 races (out of a total of 750 started since 1950). McLaren have won 152, Williams 113.

• McLaren are the only team to have scored points in every race with both drivers this season. Lewis Hamilton has finished all nine of his races to date on the podium, an unprecedented feat for a rookie. If he finishes on the podium again on Sunday, he will become only the third driver in the sport's history to chalk up 10 podiums in a row. The other two are Schumacher (19 - spanning 2001 and 2002) and Fernando Alonso (15 - over 2005 and 2006).

• The Nuerburgring and Hockenheim are alternating as host of Germany's round of the championship. This year's race is officially the European Grand Prix and there is no German Grand Prix on the calendar for the first time since 1960.

• This year's grand prix marks the 80th anniversary of the first race at the Nuerburgring, won by German Rudolf Caracciola in a Mercedes-Benz.