Lotus driver Kimi Rai-kkonen is focused on getting back in the fight for the Formula 1 title at the Canadian Grand Prix in Montreal tomorrow.

The 33-year-old Finn saw the gap to championship leader Sebastian Vettel increased from four to 21 points after a frustrating Monaco Grand Prix for the Enstone-based team.

He said: “For sure we lost ground on the lead in Monaco, but it’s not over yet.

“It’s still early in the season and 21 points behind is not too much to catch up – especially if Sebastian has a bad weekend too at some point.

“The most important thing is that we return to our race level before Monaco to get things going our way as soon as possible.”

Looking ahead to the race, he added: “I have won there which was pretty good, but I have experienced some setbacks there as well.

“Many times the race has been quite a lottery as there seem to be different things which affect it.

“The weather can change a lot, sometimes the tyres or the track aren’t working very well, sometimes there are a lot of safety cars, or sometimes another driver runs into the back of you when you’re waiting at a red light.”

Teammate Romain Grosjean went from seventh to second in Montreal in 2012.

“Last year we had a fantastic result at this race and we’ll certainly be trying for a fantastic result once more,” he said.

“For sure it will be a bit more difficult with the penalty, but we’ll take the challenge and do the very best we can.”

Oxfordshire’s three other teams, Williams, Caterham and Marussia, will be out to post their first point.

DAVE Madsen-Mygdal, who hails from Oxford, became the first rider to finish 100 Isle of Man TT races when finishing 20th in yesterday’s Supertwins event.