Kimi Raikkonen knows he must crack his qualifying woes if he is to stay in the race for the Formula One world title.

The normally flying Finn has struggled of late in Saturday's one-lap showdowns, and that has ultimately compromised his grands prix form.

Remarkably, although Raikkonen has been out-qualified by Ferrari team-mate Felipe Massa seven to four, and has failed to win any of the last seven races, he remains firmly in the title hunt.

The 28-year-old is three points clear of Massa and only five behind Hamilton going into Sunday`s European Grand Prix at the superbly-constructed new Valencia Street Circuit.

Raikkonen at least gave himself hope of a qualifying tonic with the quickest lap at the end of yesterday's two 90-minute practice sessions.

But it is Saturday afternoon that counts, and he said: "Overall, I am happy where we are right now.

"Definitely we would rather have won more races, and we have had some chances, but in the end it wasn't to be.

"We are still in a good position for the championship, and although the season could have been much better, it could also have been much worse.

"Lately the races have not exactly been what I was expecting, but hopefully we will get back to where we should be.

"The biggest issue has been getting stuck behind people following a bad qualifying, so if we can sort out that then we should be fine.

"We just need to work on some things and hopefully we will get back to winning some races."

Raikkonen, though, is unable to put his finger on why qualifying has been a struggle, notably in the last two races when he has started a lowly sixth, appreciating he has played a part in his own downfall.

"There is no one real issue - sometimes it goes right, sometimes not," added Raikkonen.

"At the last race I ran off the circuit, which doesn't help, but then we haven't exactly been happy with the handling, which easily makes it look worse than it really is.

"The problem is it is very close between everybody now, and if you are one 10th (of a second) slower you lose three places.

"We would have fixed it if we knew what to do, but I think we will find a solution.

"We just need to put more effort in and try to get it right. We will see what we can do."

Raikkonen at least enjoyed his debut outing around the new circuit that winds its way through the marina, with his fastest lap a 1min 39.477sec effort.

That edged Renault's Fernando Alonso into second by 0.020sec, with Jenson Button a surprise third in his Honda followed by Massa and Hamilton.

"I like driving this track," said Raikkonen.

"When I walked it on Thursday, I thought it would be fun and after yesterday, it confirmed that impression.

"There are some very quick parts and almost everywhere there's a lot of room. They have really done a good job.

"Overtaking will be difficult, but as always I hope I don't need to by getting the best position in qualifying.

"The set-up we have found is not bad, but there is still plenty of room for improvement."