Kimi Raikkonen hopes to revive his form in the Belgian Grand Prix

Embattled and on the ropes, Kimi Raikkonen heads to the fabled Spa-Francorchamps this weekend for the Belgian Grand Prix, hoping his most rewarding circuit can for once spare him the knocks of an otherwise bruising season and set the scene for a revival in form.
The former world champion has looked decidedly lackluster this season.What should have been a triumphant return to the Scuderia for Ferrari’s last world champion has been reduced to a Sunday afternoon exercise in driving around in circles.

The Finn currently lies 12th in the championship with just 27 points to his credit and, having never finished lower than tenth in the overall standings, is currently enduring his worst ever season in the sport.

His best result so far this year has been a sixth-place finish, which he achieved in the previous race in Hungary, and if he fails to top that in the remaining eight races of the season, it would mark the first time in his 12 years in F1 that Raikkonen would have failed to finish at least once in the top five. What’s more, the 34-year-old is also on course to record his first season without a podium finish since he first stood on the rostrum back at the 2002 Australian Grand Prix at the start of just his second season.

The raw numbers make for grim reading, especially when you consider what teammate Fernando Alonso has achieved in the same car—the Spaniard is fourth with 115 points and two podiums to his name. The numbers make for even more depressing reading when you compare Raikkonen’s current season with the form he displayed last year.

Raikkonen arrived at Spa last season second in the drivers’ standings and having finished a record 27 straight races in the points, a run which included 13 podium finishes and two wins. So, how is it that a driver who was at least mathematically in contention for the championship for much of last season is now scrapping for the minor points-scoring positions?

Many of Raikkonen’s problems stem from the wholesale regulation changes introduced ahead of this season, which have made the 2014 cars very different to drive, and Ferrari’s failure to deliver a ‘driveable’ car within the limitations of those new rules. It’s not that Raikkonen is suddenly a bad driver, but simply that, while Alonso has been able to adapt and squeeze the results out of his sluggish machine, Raikkonen has struggled to come to terms with his ill-handling Ferrari.

He lacks confidence in the car, particularly braking and while turning into the corners and, unsure of how the car will behave, is forced to be cautious and is consequently slower. “I hate it when there is no front end on the car,” said Raikkonen after the Austrian GP referring to the car’s reluctance to turn into corners. “If we sort out the front end, we lose the rear and it is (about) trying to balance it out and somehow get it working.”

If there is one circuit where Raikkonen can snap the downward spiral his season seems to have been locked into, it’s Spa, one of the few truly historic tracks on the calendar from a bygone, more perilous era of racing. The Finn has won at the circuit a total of four times, more than any other driver from among the current crop, and only Michael Schumacher, with six wins, and Ayrton Senna with five wins, have done better.

At no other circuit has Raikkonen won more races and the track is only one of four at which he has taken multiple victories, the others being the Circuit de Catalunya in Spain, Australia’s Albert Park and Malaysia’s Sepang (he's won twice at each circuit).

Moreover, the circuit was the scene of a revival in fortunes for Raikkonen the last time he suffered a dip in form. Outperformed by then teammate Felipe Massa and struggling in a car that was off the pace, it was at Spa in 2009that Raikkonen staged a phoenix act to take his sole win of a similarly trying season.

And while a victory looks highly unlikely this year, with Mercedes expected to resume their domination of proceedings. Raikkonen can at least hope for an improvement in his run of results so far and possibly even a shot at the podium.