Raikkonen seeks end to German hoodoo

Kimi Raikkonen is hoping to finally end his wretched Germany jinx and provide Lotus with a much-needed and long-overdue victory.

In 15 races on German soil throughout his Formula One career, be it the German or European Grand Prix, Raikkonen has never won.

Ahead of next weekend's race at Hockenheim, and with Lotus still the only top team without a win this season, Raikkonen said: "I've always enjoyed driving in Germany. But the problem is luck has never been on my side there, and something has always happened to stop me winning."

Worse still is Raikkonen has chalked up nine retirements, which has even led the Finn to jokingly suggest he "maybe did something bad in a former life".

Raikkonen has managed two third places, in the 2002 European race and 2006 German GP during his days with McLaren, but that has been the best of a bad lot.

"I've had four pole positions, which shows my speed on German soil, but six retirements (specifically in the German GP) haven't been what I wanted," he added.

"Maybe it will all come together this year. We've a good car, we understand the tyres quite well, we've shown we can be fast and race well. There's no reason why we shouldn't be fighting for another podium."

Team-mate Romain Grosjean, however, will start the race on the back foot as he will serve a five-place grid penalty for a gearbox change. The issue came to light on the final lap of the British Grand Prix at Silverstone on Sunday after Grosjean had finished a superb sixth despite being last at one point early on.

Lotus technical director James Allison said: "It was a gearbox problem, and we are very fortunate Romain didn't have the problem earlier in the race.

"Unfortunately for Romain it means he'll take a five-place grid penalty at Hockenheim. But he certainly showed at Silverstone that dropping down the order won't stop him challenging at the sharp end."