Tyre choice costs Kimi

Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen was left to rue a tyre gamble that ultimately cost him a shot at victory in Sunday's dramatic British Grand Prix, won by McLaren's Lewis Hamilton.

The reigning world champion was battling with Hamilton for the lead of the race run in tricky wet conditions when the pair dived into the pit lane together on lap 21.

Raikkonen's team elected to keep the Finn on his original set of intermediate tyres, expecting no more rain would fall over the Silverstone circuit.

Down at McLaren, meanwhile, Hamilton was given a fresh set of intermediates, which came into their own when the heavens opened just three laps later.

Raikkonen's worn tyres failed to cope with the treacherous conditions but Hamilton eased away at the front, going on to win by 68.5 seconds, while Raikkonen slipped back to fourth at the chequered flag, a lap down on the victorious Briton.

"I think we made one mistake," Raikkonen admitted.

"We really did not expect it to start raining, so at the pit stop so we kept the old tyres. Until that point we had good speed, so we had the car to win the race. But that mistake cost us."

The Finn revealed it had been the team's call to stay on his original set of tyres, but he refused to point the finger of blame after the race.

"It was a team decision," he said. "We make decisions together and sometimes you get it right. Unfortunately today, it was one of those that could have gone in either direction."

"We win and we lose as a team. Sometimes we make the wrong decisions. But I don't complain to the team and they don't complain to me."

Raikkonen's fourth-placed finish means he now shares the lead of the drivers' championship on 48 points along with Hamilton and team-mate Felipe Massa, who had a torrid race, finishing well outside the points after spinning off five times.

The result continues a frustrating run of results for Raikkonen, who failed to score in Monaco and Canada and had victory snatched away from him at the French Grand Prix when an exhaust problem cost him valuable time.

"The last races have not been easy for me," Raikkonen continued. "We haven't had one good race. At the last race, we had good speed but unfortunately we had a problem with the car."

"If you look at all those things, not scoring in two races and not really having a perfect race in the next two, we are tied in the championship lead so it's not too bad. We know we have good speed."