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Kimi Raikkonen predicts that tactics during safety car periods will be crucial to victory in this weekend's Canadian Grand Prix.

The Finn, who lost his championship lead when he only finished ninth in Monaco, believes it could come down to who has the most luck with timing their pitstops around the safety car.

"I don't remember a Canadian Grand Prix that hasn't been neutralised by the safety car and I expect that to happen on Sunday," he said. "If it does, we have to be really cautious with our strategy because of the balance of the field. With the rules, luck is really important under these circumstances if you want to win. Let's hope that if the safety car has to be employed, it will be at an opportune moment for us."

Raikkonen also says he can't afford another non-score if he is to keep pace in the championship battle.

"I didn't like it at all to come ninth, without points," he added. "It was the first race of the season where I didn't gain any points and we can't have another one like that because the fight is extremely fierce."

But the world champion is confident that the F2008 will be a much stronger car at Montreal than its predecessor was.

"The stability during braking and when you go over the kerbs is extremely important," he said. "The F2008 improved a lot in these areas compared to last year's car. But obviously we will have to wait until the first practice session on Friday to confirm that."