Raikkonen looks to reignite F1 title defence

LONDON, England (CNN) -- Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen is keeping his fingers crossed that a return to Spain can bring about the change of fortune his Formula One title defence needs.

The world champion has gone seven races without standing on top of the podium since coming home first in the Spanish Grand Prix in April.

The past four months has seen the Finn endure mechanical unreliability, weather woes and difficulties in qualifying.

And Raikkonen knows that he can ill-afford further mishaps if he is to get back on terms with championship leader, McLaren's Lewis Hamilton, at this weekend's European Grand Prix at Valencia.

"We have to start well at Valencia, where it's more important than in other places to drive with continuity from Friday on," said the 28-year-old.

"I hope I'll have a trouble-free weekend to try to set up the car the best way possible, especially for the qualifying lap.

"The qualifying will be extremely important, although I think that there are some possibilities on the track to overtake."

Valencia is new to the F1 calendar and teams will be basing their early laps in practise on computer simulations of the marina-side track.

It is expected to be much quicker than F1's most famous street circuit at Monaco, similar in speed and demands to the Canadian Grand Prix.

And it was at Montreal that an on-song Raikkonen's bad luck was underlined when Hamilton drove into the back of his Ferrari during a pit-stop, retiring them both.

Raikkonen is hoping lightning will not strike twice.

He added: "Like at Montreal you also need a bit of luck and I hope that it will not end for me as it did in Canada. Anyway, there's no need to worry until we race.

"If it's hot that will help Ferrari. We just have to fight until the end and try to win."

Raikkonen looked to be on course for 10 points while leading the French Grand Prix in June only to slow with an exhaust problem, allowing team-mate Felipe Massa to win.

Ferrari's reliability was called into question again last time out in Hungary when Massa, comfortably in the lead, was forced into retirement three laps from the flag with an engine failure.

A spokesman for the Scuderia told itv-f1.com that the team was not expecting a repeat of the problem this weekend.

"We are confident that the failure we suffered in Budapest was a one-off," he said.