Sunday Mirror: Motor racing: RUB IT OUT

KIMI RAIKKONEN has slammed tyre rules that cost him victory - and nearly his life - in the European Grand Prix.

The 23-year-old Finn said the regulations are unclear over when drivers are allowed to pit without penalty to change dangerously worn rubber.

The McLaren-Mercedes ace was pitched into a horrifying 192mph accident less than a lap from victory at the Nurburgring last Sunday after losing out in a dangerous gamble that his flat-spotted tyres would last the final mile.

Instead the vibrations resulted in a dramatic suspension failure, sending him into a spin on one of the fastest parts of the circuit, nearly slamming backwards into Jenson Button before hammering the barriers.

Minutes before he and his engineers had radio discussions on whether to pit.

"You don't know how bad the tyre needs to be before you are allowed to change it," said Raikkonen.

"Even if we had changed it maybe the stewards would have said it is not bad enough so they penalise you anyway.

"That would have meant we would have lost the lead anyway so we took the gamble and unfortunately it didn't pay off.

"We needed to score more points than Fernando so we didn't see any reason to try to come third and get six points. That is not our aim." Raikkonen admitted he had played Russian Roulette with his life.

"There was no point stopping. We wanted to try to win the race and, if the suspension hadn't given up, I think we could have," added the Finn who was chasing down a massive point deficit to championship leader Fernando Alonso.

In the end the hard-charging Renault racer, closing on his heels, was gifted his fourth victory of the season and a 32-point lead in the title chase.

"It is disappointing but what can you do? We gave our best. You would think it would last one lap more because it had lasted so long, but this time it didn't," said Raikkonen.

Last week FIA president Max Mosley carried out a rearguard action warning teams safety has to come first, especially since spectators could be at risk too.

"It should not be forgotten that a mechanical failure at high speed may involve a degree of risk to the spectating public," Mosley wrote.

Raikkonen said he has not given up hope of winning the title and has set his sights on the Canadian Grand Prix in seven days' time.

"We just have to go for the wins and see what happens," he said.

Button's ambitions are more modest after he returned from a two- race ban at the Nurburgring to finish a distant 10th.

He was within yards of being lapped at the flag, but three days testing in two countries this week has left the Brit a little more upbeat.

"We'll certainly go to Canada in better shape than we were at the Nurburgring," he said.