Kimi Raikkonen is heading into this weekend's Italian Grand Prix desperate to rescue a title defence that hangs by a thread after he crashed out of the lead at Spa.

Pending an appeal by McLaren into the 25-second penalty which resulted in Lewis Hamilton being stripped of his win last Sunday, Raikkonen goes to Monza 19 points adrift of the Briton and 17 behind Ferrari team-mate Felipe Massa, who was handed victory by the Belgian Grand Prix stewards.

Raikkonen said: "You get blows but you fight back.

"There is no reason for me to stop trying. It would be out of this world for me to win the Italian Grand Prix for the first time. I will go flat out."

Meanwhile, the battle for Fernando Alonso's signature on a contract for 2009 could be decided over the weekend, with Honda and BMW-Sauber looking to prise the Spaniard away from Renault.