Thursday 28 August at 12:31 : Reigning world champion Kimi Raikkonen will if required support his teammate Felipe Massa's charge for the 2008 title, Ferrari boss Stefano Domenicali insists.

Amid the Finn's current performance trough, many observers believe the time has come for the Italian team to relegate 28-year-old Raikkonen into a support role for a newly appointed 'number one' Massa.

"If he has to, Kimi will help Felipe, as we said at the beginning of the year," Domenicali said in interview with Italy's La Gazzetta dello Sport.

"But, first, let's see how things evolve," he added.

Massa, 6 points behind drivers' championship leader Lewis Hamilton, is 7 points ahead of Raikkonen with six races left to run.

With his favourite circuit looming, however, Raikkonen has not given up on defending his crown.

"One third of the season is still left and it's enough to fight back," said the Finn, who will test at Monza on Friday.

After the Monza test, F1 moves on to the Belgian grand prix, staged at the famous Spa-Francorchamps circuit, where Raikkonen has won on his last three visits.

"I love that circuit and, obviously, I would love to race there for the whole year long.

"Hopefully we finally get the car working the way I want," he said.