Kimi Raikkonen admits Ferrari's fourth place in the Constructors' Championship is a true reflection of their "current value".

The Scuderia have had a troubled season so far and have accumulated only 26 points, which leaves them 79 points behind pacesetters Brawn GP after eight races.

Raikkonen, who has only 10 points and one podium to his name, admits the top three of Brawn and Red Bull are well clear of Ferrari at the moment.

"We are in position four in the Constructors' Championship and I think that this is our current value," he told the Ferrari website.

"We're out there fighting for third position, but the two teams on the top are still ahead of us in terms of performance."

Although the 2007 World Champion was glad to be among the points at Silverstone, he concedes eighth place is not good enough for the Italian outfit.

"Starting from the fifth row my goal was to gain some points," he said. "This time I had a good start: the main straight is quite long, but it wasn't enough to pass Nakajima. I came on the grass and then I was on fifth position, impossible to gain more, because my first stint was too short.

"I couldn't overtake: in the fast corners at Silverstone it's very difficult to stay behind the car in front of you, especially when you have less fuel on board than the first ten cars on the grid. So I had a difficult race. In the end I gained one point. Better than nothing, but still a poor result."

Felipe Massa admits Ferrari still don't know where they stand in the pecking order given their fluctuating results in recent race weekends.

After four races without points, Massa finally put his first score on the board at the Spanish GP. His Barcelona result sparked a run of four successive points-paying races but without a single visit to the podium ceremony.

Instead Massa has had to watch while Brawn GP and Red Bull Racing dominated the top three, while the best he could do is flirt with a podium finish in both Monaco and on Sunday in Britain.

"I don't know," Massa told Autosport when asked where Ferrari stand in the pecking order. "For the moment, we need to look race-by-race. We went to Barcelona and made a fantastic performance there.

"We went to Monaco as well, and when we went to Turkey it was a bit less than we expected. Then we went to here (Silverstone), and it was really, really difficult. Then in the race we showed a good performance.

"So I don't know. For me, you have now Red Bull, you have Brawn, and then you have two or three teams who are in a similar position, and for the moment we are inside these teams."

The Brazilian believes one of the aspects hampering Ferrari is their inability to get heat into their tyres on a cold track. This, he explains, is why his race-pace was so much faster than his speed during qualifying at Silverstone.

"On race day it was a bit hotter than in qualifying. It was three or four degrees (centigrade), which sometimes looks like a bit of an excuse, but three or four degrees on the range of the temperature that the tyres need to work can make a big difference. I think maybe this can be a reasonable answer to your question," he said.

"Apart from that, I don't know. The car in the race was much better than it was in qualifying, so the race pace was really, really good. But in qualifying we did not find a direction."

Asked for his thoughts on the Championship fight, which is currently between Brawn GP and Red Bull while Ferrari are down in fourth place, Massa says it was a definite bonus for the sport that BRed Bull's Seb Vettel was able to bring Jenson Button's four-race winning streak to an end on Sunday.

"Yes for sure," he answered when asked if Vettel's win was good for the Championship. "For the spectators, for the media, it is interesting to have other teams. It creates a fight, but I would like it to be us.

"We would like to be in the position of Red Bull and we are not, so for us it does not change a lot. We just need to push a lot to be more competitive and maybe get to the front once."

With nine races remaining this season, Ferrari are fourth in the Constructors' Championship, having scored 26 points to Championship leaders Brawn GP's 105.

Stefano Domenicali said FOTA was pushed beyond the point where it could consider compromising its stance and entering next year's world championship under the FIA's terms.

The eight teams still active in the teams' alliance declared last Thursday night that they would establish their own breakaway series next season.

Although FIA president Max Mosley said yesterday that there was much common ground and a deal could easily be reached, Ross Brawn responded that FOTA would prefer to press ahead with its rival championship rather than return to the table with the FIA.

Domenicali agreed with Brawn's position and said the time for talking was over.

"Ross spoke not only for Ross, but the FOTA teams - that's the line of all the teams," he said.

"We want to go ahead with the [breakaway] project.

"Our position is pretty clear.

"All the FOTA teams have shown a great respect for the FIA and a lot of will to find solutions and compromise.

"But there is a limit and you have to act accordingly.

"We have shown a very rational and professional approach."

While Mosley suggested that there were 'elements' in FOTA that were more committed to the breakaway cause and others willing to compromise, Domenicali said he was fairly sure that the teams were in total agreement.

"I won't exclude anything because in life and politics we know how things work - in front of the sheen and behind the sheen," he said.

"But the position of FOTA is pretty clear and I was happy to see we were very united on this position."

Domenicali added that while Ferrari in particular had been very critical of the new teams lining up to either replace the FOTA squads in the F1 entry or take some of the vacant spaces, FOTA would be happy to work with newcomers in its breakaway championship - provided they were of suitable calibre.

"We'll be able to make sure that the big constuctors, the independent teams and the new teams that want to come in are very, very welcome," he said.

"This is something that has to be very clear: no one is putting any kind of barrier to new teams.

"We are very happy to have new teams, but the value of Formula 1 must not be devalued by the level of new teams that want to come in, with all due respect."

Whilst most teams on the grid have all but scrapped KERS, Both Ferrari drivers said the team’s kinetic energy recovery system played a major role in helping them move up the field in the British Grand Prix from mediocre starting positions, and are keen to keep it on the F60 at future races.

Felipe Massa climbed from 11th on the grid to fourth at the finish at Silverstone, while Kimi Raikkonen garnered a single point for eighth place.

Both drivers made lightning starts, Raikkonen vaulting from ninth to fifth and Massa from 11th to eighth, and felt the power boost from KERS was a key contributory factor.

“My start was very good, thanks to the KERS,” said Massa.

“Actually I made a very good initial start even before the KERS [took effect] - I passed Fernando [Alonso], and then when I got the power from the KERS I was able to pass more cars.

“So yes, the KERS was a big help for us at the start today.”

With Renault, BMW and McLaren abandoning KERS in recent races, Ferrari was the only team left running its regenerative energy system in the British GP.

And while Massa reckoned that - except at the start - KERS was less of an advantage at Silverstone than at some other tracks, Raikkonen said it had helped him to defend eighth place from Timo Glock in the closing laps.

“I had big difficulties with the harder tyres to get the front end working in those tight corners, but I had KERS every time exiting the last corner so I could pull away as long as I kept a tight line and just got a good exit,” he explained.

“So in that way KERS helped me a lot.

“It was a big help. It helped at the start and defending from Glock, and during the race we used it more or less all the time.”

The Finn was sceptical about the value of Ferrari’s KERS device earlier in the season but is now convinced it is benefiting the team.

“Without it we would be slower, over one lap in qualifying especially, and in the race it helps too,” he said.

“It depends on the circuit obviously but it can make a big difference.

“Our system works very well now.

“You can always switch it off if you don’t want to use it, but when we need it we can use it and we use it more or less all the time.

“So it’s a good help overall and it’s an easy choice [to use it].”

The Stig, the mystery driver who tests high-performance cars on Top Gear, has been "revealed" as Michael Schumacher.

The seven-times Formula 1 champion dressed as the show's famous driver and removed his helmet during an interview with presenter Jeremy Clarkson.

But it is unclear whether he really is the Stig or whether it was all a stunt.

Clarkson jokingly pretended not to recognise the German driver and asked him his name, before shouting to the audience: "It's Michael Schumacher!"

As Jeremy said, in tonight's Top Gear Stig will remove his helmet for the first time

The BBC has previously refused to confirm or deny whether Collins, who has worked on films including James Bond movie Quantum Of Solace, is the Stig.

Clarkson, 49, said that, while filming the scenes, "hardened, emotionless camera crews said the hair on the back of their neck prickled".

"As a television moment, it's up there with Neil Armstrong walking on the... corpse of JR Ewing," he added.

A BBC spokesman would only say: "As Jeremy said, in tonight's Top Gear Stig will remove his helmet for the first time."
Perry McCarthy, a former Formula 1 driver, was the original Stig, wearing black overalls for his appearances.

He was replaced with a new Stig, dressed in white, after he had revealed his identity in his 2002 autobiography.

Felipe Massa was delighted with the dramatic improvement in Ferrari’s form between qualifying and the race at Silverstone after finishing a strong fourth in the British Grand Prix.

The Brazilian qualified a lowly 11th but gained three places on the opening lap, another three with a long first stint and fast lap times on low fuel, and then leapfrogged Nico Rosberg’s Williams at the final round of pit stops.

He also set the sixth fastest lap and halved Ferrari’s lap time deficit to Red Bull from a fuel-adjusted 1.6s in qualifying trim to approximately 0.8s in the race.

Massa admitted he was unsure what had transformed the car’s pace overnight, but suggested the warmer weather had helped Ferrari overcome tyre temperature issues.

“Maybe one of the answers I can give you is that today was a bit hotter than yesterday," he ventured.

“Sometimes that seems a bit of an excuse, but three or four degrees, in the range of temperatures that the tyres need to work, can make a big difference.

“Apart from that I don’t know, but the car today was much better than yesterday and the race pace was really, really good, [whereas] in qualifying we didn’t find the right direction.”

Team-mate Kimi Raikkonen was disappointed to finish eighth after making a flying start, vaulting from ninth to fifth thanks to a perfect KERS-assisted getaway and some brave driving at Copse.

The Finn slipped down the order when he was one of the first to pit and spent the middle stint stuck behind Jarno Trulli’s Toyota, before slipping into Jenson Button’s clutches at the second stops.

“The car was working well and I think we could have had much better results,” said Raikkonen.

“Compared to how it worked in qualifying we were pretty strong in the race when we were able to run our own speed.

“One point is better than nothing but definitely during the first stint I was expecting to have a better result, so of course it’s disappointing.

“Until the first stop it was good but then I got stuck behind Trulli and it destroyed the race a bit, but these are the decisions you make before the last qualifying.

“It didn’t work out as well as we wanted.”

Raikkonen concurred with Massa that the higher race day temperatures had helped Ferrari, but admitted to being puzzled by the car’s fluctuating form.

“The car is still not where we want to be,” he said.

“We were stronger today than yesterday in qualifying, but it was a bit the opposite way in the last race, where it was more difficult in the race than in qualifying.

“It seems to be a bit tricky to know really. I think it’s a lot to do with the weather and how the tyres are working.”

Red Bull's Sebastian Vettel scored a crushing victory in the British Grand Prix as championship leader Jenson Button's Brawn struggled to sixth.

Vettel took advantage of his team-mate Mark Webber being caught behind Brawn's Rubens Barrichello to build a decisive lead in the first stint of the race.

Webber passed Barrichello at the first pit stops to complete a Red Bull one-two ahead of the Brawn driver in third.

Last year's winner Lewis Hamilton was 16th in a car he said had "no grip".

Felipe Massa's Ferrari was fourth after winning a battle with the Williams of Nico Rosberg. Behind Button, Toyota's Jarno Trulli and Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen took the final points positions in seventh and eighth.

The result leaves Button with a reduced but still substantial championship lead of 23 points over Barrichello, with Vettel two further points adrift and 3.5 ahead of Webber.

Button's advantage is still more than two clear victories but, with more than half the season still to go, he will be concerned by the startling pace shown by Red Bull, who introduced a major upgrade to their car and were in a league of their own throughout the weekend at Silverstone.

"It was a completely seamless race by both drivers and they completely dominated it," said Red Bull team boss Christian Horner.

"We can really mount a championship challenge from here."

Brawn's potential was reduced by the low temperatures in Northamptonshire - both Button and Barrichello struggled to get their tyres up to the temperature at which they give their optimum grip.

That put the season's dominant team back into the battle with Williams, Toyota and Ferrari behind the leaders - a position from which they did well to finish third and fourth.

Red Bull, by contrast had looked strong favourites as soon as the car showed its pace in practice in Friday.

Vettel was on pole by more than half a second and he made the most of the fact that Webber, after a frustrating qualifying session, was stuck behind Barrichello on the grid and could not pass him in the opening laps.

The German rising star pulled away by about a second a lap over the first stint, and was nearly 20 seconds in front of Barrichello by the time the Brazilian became the first of the top three to stop on lap 19.

Webber, who spent the first stint less than a second behind the Brawn, came in on the next lap, and made up enough time to exit the pits just ahead of Barrichello.

From that moment, a Red Bull one-two was locked on barring any unforeseen misfortune.

Barrichello found himself holding off the Williams of Nico Rosberg and Felipe Massa's Ferrari - a battle he won by staying out for a couple of extra laps before his final stop and rejoining with a comfortable advantage.

Massa jumped Rosberg at their final stops and in the closing laps they found themselves coming under increasing pressure from Button.

Brawn had decided to save a set of the quicker softer tyres until the final stint, when both Massa and Rosberg were on the harder and slower of the two tyre compounds teams are obliged to use in the race.

That meant Button was much faster than the Ferrari and Williams in the final few laps. The home crowd cheered him on, but although the Englishman closed in on them he was unable to pass. 

If you haven't been to the UK before , you should know that we get rain almost at any time of the year, whether it is Summer, Winter, Autumn, Spring, doesn't matter and rain is a chance for todays race.

It will be partially cloudy again with an ambient temperature high around 17 degrees Celsius, and some chance of showers.

Silverstone always is a great test of Aerodynamics, which is why the Red Bull is so strong here. Ferrari are expecting a very difficult race and perhaps rain would actually favour the Scuderia team? Since realistically, what could Ferrari really expect? A 5th or 6th place maximum probably if no bizare incidents happen, so rain might give Ferrari a chance of a freak podium.

Race starts at 1pm BST

2007 World Champion Kimi Raikkonen has called out the ugly dispute between the FIA and FOTA, by saying it's just about each party's ego and that the actual racing has taken a back seat. And since his team is one of FOTA leaders, Raikkonen is sure that he and his team will be racing in 2010, but doesn't know whether it'll be in Formula One or not.

Speaking at Silverstone, Raikkonen said, "Of course it's sad to see. This is nothing to do with sport anymore, it's more politics and more about egos fighting against each other - it's not really about Formula One anymore, it's about who is going to win and who is going to lose. It's sad but that's how it is, and we'll just see what happens."

Adding, "For sure, we want to have the best drivers and the best teams in the same championship. That's really what Formula One is all about; next year we (Ferrari) are going to race somewhere, but I don't know where."

Kimi Raikkonen and Felipe Massa conceded Ferrari has been out-developed by its rivals in recent weeks after the team registered its worst qualifying result since China in April.

Having initially made big progress with its F60 on F1’s return to Europe last month after a wretched start to the season, the team fell back slightly in Turkey and expected a similar weekend at the even faster Silverstone circuit after a tough Friday.

Those fears were realised in qualifying with Kimi Raikkonen managing only ninth and Felipe Massa missing the Q2 cut altogether after making a mistake towards the end of his final lap.

Although Raikkonen set the fifth-fastest lap in the low-fuel second session, he says the F60’s handling deteriorated with race fuel on board and he did the best he could on his final laps.

“To be honest, I didn’t expect much more,” the Finn said.

“This is our current performance level and today it was difficult to do any better.

“Each weekend we try our best: again on this track, the F60 was well balanced but, as we have seen so often this year, we don’t have enough grip.

“I did a good lap in Q2 but, with race fuel on board, the car was not as quick as the others.

“We have improved the car in these last two races, but it seems the others have taken a bigger step forward than we have.”

Massa looked on course to join his team-mate in the pole shootout after setting personal best times through the opening two sectors of his fast lap, but made two crucial mistakes in the final series of turns – first drifting slightly off line at Brooklands before running even further wide in the long right-handed Luffield.

The Brazilian admits the pace of the F60 meant he simply couldn’t afford to make any errors and, like Raikkonen, says other teams have trumped the recent progress Ferrari has made.

“Not a great weekend for us, there’s no point denying it,” Massa confessed.

“Today I missed out on getting into Q3 because I made a mistake in the final sector. Up until then, I was a few tenths up on my previous best time.

“We must always push to the limit because the car doesn’t give you a margin to make it through in qualifying and that can lead to one making mistakes.

“The F60 feels balanced but we are not quick enough.

“In the last two races, some teams have made significant progress in their development, while we haven’t improved our performance enough.”

Starting 11th and with the team not on a par with some of its rivals ahead, Massa knows he faces a tough fight for points but has nevertheless vowed to give it his all.

“It will be a hard race, but maybe something will happen that could see us getting a good result,” he added.

“From our side, all we can do is give it our best shot and try all the time.”

Team Stefano Domenicali said it was pointless Ferrari looking for excuses to explain its Silverstone struggle, the F60 not suited to cooler temperatures or high-speed corners.

He says it must now try and do its best in the race to increase its points tally in the constructors’ championship, the reigning world champion team 8.5 points ahead of Williams (sixth) in fourth place.

“Clearly this is a bad result,” the Italian said.

“It’s pointless to look for one specific element to blame: this is our current rating in this sort of temperature range and on a track with so many fast corners.

“The car does not have enough aerodynamic downforce to generate the required grip through the tyres.

“Having said that, we must not lose heart.”