Raikkonen drove a strong race at Indy to stay in title contention Photos from Indianapolis

The Finn is nine points behind Michael Schumacher after finishing second to the German in Sunday's US Grand Prix.

Ferrari's reigning champion needs only one point to clinch a record sixth title in Japan in two weeks' time.

Raikkonen said: "At least we are still in the championship and anything can happen in the last race."

But a buoyant Schumacher said: "We are in a very good position to start the last race.

"We just need one point, but we have to finish. We have a very reliable car, but my target will be to win the race."

US GRAND PRIX 1 M Schumacher (Ferrari) 2 K Raikkonen (McLaren) 3 HH Frentzen (Sauber) 4 J Trulli (Renault) 5 N Heidfeld (Sauber) 6 JP Montoya (Williams) 7 G Fisichella (Jordan) (Ferrari) 8 J Wilson (Jaguar) Race report Race result in full

Williams driver Juan Pablo Montoya, who started the race three points behind Schumacher, is now out of contention.

The Colombian finished sixth after an incident-packed race that included a drive-through penalty for causing an avoidable accident.

Raikkonen, 23, drove a superb race to stay in touch with Schumacher.

He managed to stay on the track and minimise his losses while heavy rain fell, giving conditions that favoured the Ferrari's Bridgestone tyres over McLaren's Michelins.

'Sad' Montoya out of title race

A number of Michelin-shod cars spun off the track at that time, including the Williams of Ralf Schumacher.

"It was amazing the differences between the tyres in the conditions," Raikkonen said.

"We lost the race because of the weather today.

"I was fighting all the way and I got second, but it's not the best result for the championship with Michael winning."