THEY'RE both virtually out of contention to be Formula One world champion this year

They're both Finnish, and team-mates to the two men slugging it out at the top for the ultimate bragging rights.

But with five races left in the season, starting with this Sunday's Italian Grand Prix, they clearly do not intend to 'help' their team-mates in any way possible yet.

The first reminder came last Sunday in Belgium when Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen clearly edged his team-mate Felipe Massa to his right aggressively, after overtaking him early in the race.

He may be 19 points behind the leader in the world championship - McLaren's Lewis Hamilton - but Raikkonen is not giving up on his dream of winning back-to-back titles despite crashing out in Belgium.

Instead, he declared: 'I had just one goal when I came to Belgium - victory. I just wanted to win the race, anything else would not have been enough for me, also because it meant that my competitors could have widened the gap.

'I'm not worried about what happened and I won't give up. I'll fight right until the end. The points will be counted at the end of the season, and there are still five races to go.

'My actual position is not ideal, but as I've said many times, I'm not someone who gives up easily.

'This (Sunday at Monza) is Ferrari's home race and it would be fantastic to win the Italian GP for the first time. I've got nothing to lose, so I'll give it all, going flat out.'

Raikkonen added that he will only allow his team-mate to pass him without a fight, when he's having problems with the car.

'If there's a situation, if I'm in trouble for any reason, like at Hockenheim (Germany) when the pace of our cars is really different, then I'll see what I can do. That's to be decided myself, what I feel is the best.'

Heikki Kovalainen - Hamilton's McLaren team-mate - has also sent out the same message, even though he is really too far back to realistically challenge this year in the title race.

'The best thing I can do for this team is to take 10 points every race, and that will be my target.

'Lewis doesn't need any help. He will try to do the same, he will try to score as many points.

'It's not that I'm trying to take them away from him, I'm trying to take them away from everybody, that's what I'm always trying to do.'

Limelight

This means that Hamilton and Massa will not only have to fight each other off, but contend with their own team-mates, who are not content to be left out of the limelight.

Last year, it was widely believed that Hamilton's on-track differences and duels with ex-team-mate Fernando Alonso cost him on the way to eventually losing the title to Raikkonen.

Raikkonen, in contrast, had no problems whatsoever, with Massa.

So it remains to be seen how aggressive Raikkonen and Kovalainen will be, towards their team-mates at Monza this weekend.

And how their teams - already on edge - keep the lid from blowing off.

This article was first published in The New Paper on Sept 12, 2008.