Monaco Grand Prix winner Kimi Raikkonen has thanked Williams for helping him close the gap in the championship race on Renault's Fernando Alonso. Both Nick Heidfeld and Mark Webber overtook Alonso late on to see Raikkonen move to 22 points behind his rival in the drivers' standings.
Raikkonen said: "Thanks to the two (Williams) guys for passing him as it's hard to catch anyone on points.
"It is looking better now, but it is still a long season."
The Finn described the win as "just the same" as any other as he picked up 10 points.
But he added: "However, this is a special race and everyone looks differently when you win in Monaco. The team did a great job, everything worked well and I am very happy to be here.
 |  Some laps I thought I was going to be on the podium, at other times that I was going to hit the guard rail |
"You don't know what is going to happen, especially in Monaco, there might be someone in front of you and you end up in an accident. We had some problems but not many." The result also cut Renault's lead in the constructors' standings. They now have 63 points to McLaren's 51.
And Raikkonen added: "We are getting there and we just need to keep winning the races and see what happens. I am confident now that we can be fast at all the circuits."
Despite seeing his championship lead cut, Alonso hailed his fourth place in Monaco as a "miracle".
He said: "Some laps I thought I was going to be on the podium, at other times that I was going to hit the guard rail and then I feared I would finish out of the points."
And he insisted he was "not too worried" about the future of the title race.
"Kimi will be one of the contenders for the championship but at the moment he is quite far behind," added the Spaniard. "We have won half of the races this year with this car so I think it's not that bad with the tyres."
MMIX
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