Kimi Raikkonen to be honoured by the Finnish postal service in celebration of his F1 title success.

Kimi Raikkonen’s 2007 Formula One title is to be celebrated back in his home land after Finland’s postal service announced it is to issue a special set of stamps of the Ferrari man.

The stamps, which will be released next month as part of a series to help mark the Finnish postal service’s 370th birthday, include images of Raikkonen on track and also on the podium celebrating his victory earlier this year at Sepang in the Malaysian Grand Prix. The pictures will be accompanied by the text ‘F1 World Champion ‘07 Kimi Raikkonen’.

Raikkonen will be presented with his own special copy of the stamps on September 4 at Spa ahead of the Belgian Grand Prix.

McLaren Mercedes CEO Martin Whitmarsh insists that the Woking-based team is leaving ‘no stone unturned’ in its preparations for the European Grand Prix at the new Valencia circuit.

The Spanish city will play host to its first F1 event later this month as racing resumes following a brief summer break, with the race taking place on a unique venue around the marina.

A round of the Spanish F3 and GT championships acted as the warm-up for the Grand Prix itself, and Whitmarsh said that the McLaren squad had been closely watching what has been happening in Valencia ahead of the race.

“We’ve been paying very close attention to the construction of the new shorefront circuit in Valencia and are convinced it is going to be an exciting addition to the Formula 1 calendar and an absolutely top-line facility,” he said. “There are a number of things we as a team can do ahead of arriving at any new circuit. In this instance, we have had people visiting Valencia regularly to collect data about the track surface, kerb heights and run-off areas so we can build up as clear a picture as possible of the demands that will be placed on a Formula 1 racing car during the European Grand Prix.

“We’ve left no stone unturned, we’ve even been studying onboard racing footage of the circuit to get an idea of where the overtaking opportunities lie. Unlike most street circuits, however, Valencia is unusual in that it is relatively high-speed track and will require a much lower downforce set-up than we’d normally see at a place like Monte-Carlo, for example.

“We are anticipating a fascinating engineering challenge and, while there’s always an element of uncertainty whenever you arrive at a new facility, we’re confident we’ve done as competent a job as we can of preparing for it.”

Ferrari’s defending F1 World Champion Kimi Raikkonen comes in for harsh words of criticism following the latest in a line of off-colour performances in the Hungarian Grand Prix last weekend.

Kimi Raikkonen has come in for a scathing attack from the Italian media following another lacklustre performance in the Hungarian Grand Prix last weekend – being described variously as ‘a pale imitation of the driver of the past’ and ‘not the driver Ferrari needs’.

The defending Formula 1 World Champion has now not triumphed in seven races, putting the defence of his hard-won 2007 crown in distinct jeopardy, with both McLaren-Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton and Ferrari team-mate Felipe Massa seeming to be in considerably better shape than the Finn as the 2008 campaign races towards its conclusion.

Since Raikkonen’s second – and thus far latest – victory of the season in Barcelona all the way back in April, the 28-year-old has notched up just 28 points, compared to the 42, 36 and 30 of title rivals Hamilton, Massa and Robert Kubica respectively.

Though he may have lucked into a rostrum finish with third place in Budapest, the 17-time grand prix winner failed to convince weekend-long, qualifying a lowly sixth and spending the first two-thirds of the race tucked up behind Fernando Alonso’s markedly slower Renault – a fact not lost on the notoriously merciless and fickle Italian press.

‘He seems a pale imitation of the driver of the past,’ blasted national sports newspaper Tuttosport. ‘This Raikkonen is not the driver that Ferrari needs. He needs to ask himself whether he really still has the desire.’

For his part, the erstwhile world championship leader has responded to claims that he is likely to hang up his F1 helmet at the end of the current campaign, second title in the bag or not.

“I never said anything like that,” he stressed. “Somebody made it up.”

There were rather warmer words, meanwhile, for Massa, who – against the odds – dominated the race around the Hungaroring, from his superbly aggressive pass all the way around the outside of pole-sitter Hamilton at the start to his cruel retirement with engine failure whilst in a commanding position a scant three laps from the chequered flag.

Britain’s last F1 World Champion Damon Hill predicts Finns Kimi Raikkonen (Ferrari) and Heikki Kovalainen (McLaren-Mercedes) will make the running over the closing stages of the 2008 campaign.

Damon Hill has revealed that he believes Kimi Raikkonen is now the favourite to defend his Formula 1 World Drivers’ Championship laurels and lift the trophy again this year – despite the Finn having gone a full seven races without standing atop the podium in the top flight.

The Ferrari star sits second in the title standings following his third place in the Hungarian Grand Prix last weekend, five points adrift of leader Lewis Hamilton. Until the last third of the race, however, when he set fastest lap after fastest lap, the 17-time grand prix winner failed to look particularly interested in proceedings – and not for the first time this season, some paddock observers have noted.

However, Britain’s last F1 World Champion and current British Racing Drivers’ Club President Hill argues that Ferrari’s unexpected race day superiority over McLaren around the Hungaroring – with Felipe Massa comfortably proving to have the legs of pole-sitter Hamilton until the Brazilian’s sudden retirement with a blown engine just three laps from home – has handed the advantage back to Maranello as the crucial final phase of the season approaches.

What’s more, the 47-year-old suggested Hamilton’s McLaren team-mate Heikki Kovalainen could now come into play too, following his breakthrough grand prix success at his 28th start in Budapest.

“Last season was remarkable,” Hill commented, quoted by the Daily Star, “and it is the same this season. It is so much more competitive than when I was driving in my championship year with Williams.

“You really do have a much more difficult task to win three grands prix on the trot (as Hamilton stood to do should he have triumphed in Hungary) than you did back then. It is just so tight, with good drivers in both teams – Ferrari and McLaren.

“Right now they are all in with a shout, which is very good for the sport because you don’t want it to become predictable and you don’t want number one drivers in a team.