McLaren savour rare win

1 K Raikkonen (McLaren) 2 M Schumacher (Ferrari) 3 R Barrichello (Ferrari) 4 F Massa (Sauber) 5 G Fisichella (Sauber) 6 C Klien (Jaguar) 7 D Coulthard (McLaren) 8 O Panis (Toyota) Race report Race as it happened Pictures from Spa

Kimi Raikkonen admitted he was a relieved man as he celebrated only his second career win with victory in the Belgian Grand Prix.

The Finn produced a brave display in an incident-filled race to claim McLaren's first Grand Prix triumph since the Malaysian GP in March 2003.

"It's very good for the team and for me," he said.

"We have had such a difficult season. Hopefully we can keep it up and next year challenge for the title."

Raikkonen, who celebrated his first win in Malaysia last year, had problems with his gearbox down-change in an action-packed race which saw the safety car deployed three times.

"I was struggling quite a bit at some points so I am pretty happy with the result that we got," he said.

It is a very emotional win, Kimi did a great job

McLaren boss Ron Dennis

Schumacher reaction

"It started after I went past Michael, two laps after that. For a few laps it was working and then I started to have a problem again.

"I was playing with the buttons on the steering wheel at every corner. I lost so many seconds on those few laps before I got going and knew it was going to happen under braking.

"I was locking the rear wheels all the time because otherwise I couldn't stop the car.

"Then Alonso was leaking oil and I came behind him and got a little bit sideways."

McLaren had a poor start to the season, which team principal Ron Dennis has called "worse than abysmal", but they have emerged as Ferrari's closest challengers since introducing a new car last month.

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Dennis said: "It is a very emotional win. Kimi did a great job.

"On the day he delivered on so many issues and had a sensational fastest lap when he needed it."